Ash: The Last Stand xHistoryx
by Virgo Writer
Summary: Distance travelled: approx.2000km. Pokemon seen:105. Battles won: 41. Badges received:11. Pokemon acquired:5. Evil conglomerates defeated:1. Realizing it would all be meaningless if not for a certain pushy redhead: PRICELESS. Arc 2 picking up post-battle
1. History Repeats Itself

**_NOTE:_** This is a continuation of Ash: The Last Stand (Beginnings) and it is highly recommended that you read that story before continuing with this one as it introduces many of the major plot themes and details that will be continued in this one. If you choose not to read the first arc, that's ok too because I'm totally going to summarise it in like five seconds, but I thought I'd just let you know first so you don't get confused.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pokémon! This stands for the whole fic in case I forgot in some of the later chapters.

**Ash: The Last Stand (History)**

_The small seaside town of Pallet, located just south of Viridian City, was a remarkable place. It was the location of the remarkable plantation and lab premises owned by the remarkable Professor Samuel Oak, it was a habitat for various remarkable Pokémon, and it was the hometown of a certain remarkable trainer._

_Sixteen year old Ash Ketchum had lived in this sleepy town right up until the day of his tenth birthday when he began his Pokémon journey – a journey he will finally complete almost seven years later. The latest chapter of that journey began with a test. A test brought upon him by his nearest and dearest friend, the rather remarkable Cerulean City gym leader, Misty Waterflower._

_And so thanks to Misty Waterflower, Ash left Pallet once again to begin a new journey across Kanto in the hopes of proving himself in the Pokémon league. Unlike journeys of old, this was not a new beginning. He left accompanied by his two friends – Brock and Dawn – and five of his Pokémon – Pikachu, Buizel, Grotle, Cyndaquill, and the latest addition, Scooby Doo (gastly). He was later joined in the Viridian forest by a very old friend whom he had parted with many years ago before entering the league of the Orange Archipelago, thus rounding out his team with Pidgeot._

_With his team of six reconstituted, Ash made his way to Viridian City where he met up with an old rival, whom he feared now posed both a professional and romantic threat. Little did he know, this fear was unfounded for this old rival had certain (shifts gaze) . . . tendencies that would better suit him to rival our dear hero's lady love rather than himself._

_But the path to his love's side was not a smooth one. From Viridian to Pewter, Pewter to Mt. Moon, Mt. Moon to Cerulean, various obstacles lay in his path. Notably was that of two Rocket villains bent on some devious scheme, and an encounter with the legendary Ho-oh who forewarned of dangers to come from 'the dark forces of man'._

_And he got an egg of unknown origin and species._

_Eventually the obstacles were passed, and there they stood face to face. And Ash, being Ash, just had to stick his foot in his mouth. And Misty, being Misty, just had to take pleasure in punishing him for doing so. Five labours and numerous kisses later, our hero was left with a choice – his love or the badge. The Pokémon League was his first love, and Misty . . . Misty was something else entirely._

_In a long awaited battle, a decision was made, and three words spoken with absolute candour: Kiss me again . . ._

_

* * *

_

_Recap_

**Episode Title:** All is Fair in Love and War  
**Closest town/landmark:** Cerulean City Gym  
**Distance traveled:** 0km  
**Pokémon mentioned:** Seven  
**Badges received:** Zero  
**Girlfriends acquired:** One  
**Coming for a gym badge and leaving with a girlfriend:** _Oh HELL yeah! I mean, Priceless._  
_There are some things that cannot be quantified . . . but why would you ever want to try?_

* * *

Ash: The Last Stand - History Repeats Itself

Misty smiled at him as she carefully groomed her fiery tempered water dragon, and he couldn't help but smile back. She blushed in spite of the fact that the two had technically been an item for the past four days, and Ash felt his own cheeks heat up all the same.

He was still getting used to that fact, and it made him grin widely every time he reminded himself that Misty was officially his girlfriend. It was a strange thing now not to find himself spluttering meaningless denials whenever anyone accused them of being a couple, and instead replying with a proud 'yes'.

A giggle sounded over the intercom system before Daisy's voice rang out over the gym. _"Would Misty Waterflower please come to the reception? There's someone here to see you,"_ she giggled cheerfully.

Misty scowled at the announcement. "You really don't like early challengers, do you?" Ash asked laughingly, recalling her reaction when he had arrived before ten o'clock about a week ago. It was not pretty.

"I like my beauty sleep," she answered simply.

Ash grinned at her, the timbre of his voice becoming low and sweet. "Be nice to them, Myst," he told her with a wink, "it's not like you it need it."

She tried to keep scowling at him, but couldn't resist the smile that spread to her lips. "Fine, Ash," she conceded, "but if it's another ten year old trying to beat me with a caterpie you're refereeing." Ash shuddered at the memory.

"Look after Gyarados while I'm gone," she added as she left. Ash shuddered again.

As much as Misty hated early gym visitors, she was happy to see the familiar figure standing in the reception. "Mr. Takeru," she greeted cheerfully. "Does this mean you brought my tea?" she added hopefully.

The man in his late-thirties nodded at the redheaded girl as he held up a small paper bag. He was a tall man – around six foot – with dark black hair and sparkling blue eyes, and hardly looked his age. He was darkly tanned, probably from years of travel, but smartly dressed according to his official post in the League. Daisy, Lily and Violet were all decidedly in love with the handsome older man.

"I heard you had an interesting battle, Miss. Misty," the currently reigning Pokémon Master known only as Takeru, replied with a cocky grin, putting on a formal tone that told her this was an official visit, rather than a friendly one. "Many of the trainers just can't seem to understand why the challenger would turn down a badge in favour of a kiss from the gym leader."

Misty blushed at the words, smiling guiltily even though they hadn't done anything wrong.

"I think I'd like to meet the young man that buys you inappropriate presents, Miss. Misty," Takeru continued, alluding to her tea set once again. "I'll be in my usual spot for most of the day, so when you can bear to tear yourselves away from each other feel free to send him my way."

Misty nodded, her heart swelling with pride. Takeru wanted to battle Ash, and she knew that boded well for his chances in the Pokémon league. She couldn't wait to pass on the news, knowing full well that after four days of nothing but making out, Ash was probably itching for a Pokémon battle, especially one with the prospect of such an elusive badge.

But first . . .

"Misty, I'm not sure I like tea," Ash complained as he sipped the hot liquid from his cup. That was a lie, as he was almost certain that he hated tea.

Misty just smiled at him over the rim of her teacup, continuing to sip her drink. In spite of Takeru's insistence, the jasmine did nothing to change her opinions about tea. Like Ash, she had decided that tea just wasn't for her, but she would rather suck it up and consume the vile substance than let her wonderful gift go to waste.

"Is this some kind of punishment?" he asked her warily. "If you don't like the tea set, you can just tell me you know."

"Ash, I love the tea set," she told him seriously. "And we are drinking tea because that's what you do when you have a tea set."

"Maybe it's the type of tea?" he suggested after a moment to contemplate her words. The both wanted desperately to enjoy tea, and so Ash tried his best to make an honest attempt. "Ma drinks this 'chai' stuff that smells like Christmas. Maybe we'd like that?"

Misty just nodded cordially and continued to sip from her cup. She was doing a very good job at looking demure while doing it, and you'd have to be watching very carefully to notice the grimace that formed on her lips every time the substance touched her tongue.

"Misty, I'm really glad you're my girlfriend," Ash said suddenly, his voice incredibly sincere. "And not just 'cause I'm like 'yay I have a girlfriend', but . . . I mean, I'm glad it's you."

Another demure smile was sent his way. "I'm glad it's me too," she said simply, sounding completely genuine.

"Yeah, I . . . no wait, you're not supposed to say that," he complained, his face darkening. "You're supposed to tell me that you're glad that _I'm_ your boyfriend. Not the other way around."

"Well, I think I'd rather keep my options open," Misty replied with a smirk. "After all, I'm so much prettier, and wiser, and more accomplished than you are. I could have anyone."

Ash groaned. "I can't believe Brock told you that."

"You know what else he told me?" she asked with a widening smirk. Ash felt completely torn between smiling at the way her teal eyes lit with joy, and going to hide in a corner somewhere away from her humiliation.

"He told me that every night you spend a whole twenty minutes washing the handkerchief I gave you before I left," she said smugly.

"Nuh-uh," Ash replied, accepting the challenge in her eyes and falling right into her trap. "I only spend the ordinary amount of time, and only when I'm washing my other stuff so it's not like I make a special effort or nuthin'."

"Hah!" Misty cried triumphantly, jumping from her seat so she could perform a triumphant little dance. "I knew you still had it. You said you lost, but I knew you were lying."

"Well, you know what Brock told me?" Ash asked, getting out of his seat and into a defensive stance. "He told me that when a girl gives you her handkerchief it means she loves you, so that means you loved me way back then. I bet you liked me even before that!"

Oh yes, they were now having a fight over who had liked whom first. And not in the cutesy 'I love you more' 'no, I love you more' kind of way, but in a 'shame, you liked me first even though I was a loser' kind of way. It wasn't an argument that was particularly flattering to either party, especially Misty who was older and was – for the first time in her life – probably going to lose an argument to Ash Ketchum. Although she wouldn't go down without a fight.

"Oh please," she argued flippantly. "Maybe I gave it to you because I knew you were such a snotty nosed little brat and I felt sorry for you seeing as you were so completely in love with me back then. How considerate am I, giving you the very thing you needed to sop up all the tears you cried longing for my return? Hmmm?"

"Like I'd be caught dead crying over some scrawny redhead!" He turned red with embarrassment, knowing full well that he had been caught crying such tears on the day she left, and – though nobody would know it – had shed tears for the redhead on other occasions. "Especially not one who used her bike as an excuse to follow me just because she was too embarrassed to admit her _feelings_ to the one she loved."

"That being you?" she asked sceptically. "You, the boy who has repaid every debt he has ever acquired bar one measly little bike? It does make me wonder why _my_ bike is the only one never to be returned. And I mean, with interest," she added determinedly, narrowing her eyes at the boy she loved for no reason that made any sense in this moment.

"For crying out loud, Misty!" he cried, throwing his hands in the air in distress. "Are you ever going to let me live that down? I mean, please, Misty, why don't you tell me exactly what it would take for you to forget about that stupid bike for even a couple of minutes?"

"Well?" he asked, after she was completely silently for a good minute and a half. This was a very unusual occurrence in one of their arguments, or their friendship generally. Misty was very rarely silent.

"I'm thinking about it," she replied. "This is so stupid," she said with a sigh. "All I've been able to think about since we started this argument is how I'd much rather be kissing you. Not that I don't enjoy our little fights, but I'm sure we could find a much better use of our time."

A grin spread broadly onto Ash's face. "I think I'd have to agree with you," he smiled. "And, I think- ouch!" he cried, cut off as Misty whacked him upside the head. "What was that for?" he asked rubbing the sore spot at the back of his head.

"That was a hint, you idiot," she muttered, rolling her eyes at his denseness. "Please don't tell me I have to spell it out to you every time."

"No, I think I get it." He moved closer, wrapping his arms around her waist and feeling her body mould comfortably into his own. "But you've got to let me say one thing first?"

Misty nodded impatiently as he lowered his face towards hers. He lightly brushed his lips against her jaw, following the path to her ear. "I just thought you should know," he said softly, his warm breath sending shivers down her spine, "that I'd much rather be fighting with you, than making up with anyone else."

Her breath caught at the sentiment in her words, and she barely responded with a shaky "ditto" before he did as she commanded, and captured her lips with his own.

"So, how did you end up getting rid of that challenger?" Ash asked sometime later after Misty had been quite thoroughly kissed.

"Huh?" Misty asked, a bit dazily at first. "Oh, him. No, it wasn't a challenger. At least not for me."

Ash raised a curious eyebrow at this. "You see, there's this really powerful trainer that's been hanging out in the park since the league began, and if you beat him you get the mercury badge," she explained nonchalantly, watching Ash's eyes light up with excitement as she spoke. "He'll only accept challenges from the best trainers, and so you have to present him with a cascade badge before he'll battle you."

"Oh," Ash said sadly, his face falling at the last piece of information. He had no cascade badge to offer in exchange for a battle, and even though he didn't regret his decision, he couldn't help but feel a little saddened at this.

"Although he is willing to make an exception in your case," she added slyly, watching him carefully to see his mood transform form pits of depression, to unbridled joy.

"C'mon, Myst," he said happily, jumping to his feet and dragging her up with him. He pulled her out the doors of the gym before she even knew what was happening. "We've got to go see him right now."

Misty shook her head at his antics, digging her feet in to stay put. "Aren't you forgetting something?" she asked patiently.

"Oh right." He stepped closer and lightly pressed his lips against hers. "Thanks, Myst," he told her with a sheepish smile.

"That's nice," she said blandly, "but I was actually thinking of something a little more essential to actual battle itself. Like maybe a certain electric mouse?"

For a moment the young teenager actually looked confused as to what she was referring to. "Shit, Pikachu!" he said, slapping his had to his forehead at his own stupidity. "Stay right here. I'll go get Pikachu and the others."

"What on earth did I get myself into?" she asked herself with slight sigh. "Of all the boys in the world, it just had to be him?" she demanded, turning her head to the heavens as though to question some higher beings decision in bringing the two of them together. He was stupid, immature, and impulsive, and yet she knew that no one else would ever come close. This stupid, immature, impulsive boy was the only one for her.

Ash returned moments later with Pikachu happily perched on his shoulder, as he herded two very confused looking humans through the doors. Brock sent her a questioning look, which she could only respond with a weak smile and a shrug as she mouthed the words 'Pokémon Battle'. Brock immediately understood.

And then they were running full speed – trying their best to keep up with Ash and Pikachu – towards the city park where a trainer waited for them in a small clearing surrounded by trees.

* * *

Takeru seated himself firmly on a tree stump, his legs evenly spread and hands upon his thighs, looking almost regal in his position. For a moment he debated whether or not to announce his status to the challenger at the start of the battle, but decided he liked it much better when they found out after they had been defeated that they never really had a chance. It was especially fun when it came to the cocky ones – he had taken exceptional pleasure in wiping the smirk off the young Oak boy's face.

He had to admit that he was curious about the boy that Misty was bringing with her, not just because of what he had heard about the battle itself. He felt a sense of obligation towards his dearly departed old friend to test if the boy was truly worthy of William's youngest daughter. The redhead was so like her father – the same fiery spirit and determination – and he would hate to see her with anyone that would try to dull that fire.

Hearing clumsy footsteps making their way through the trees, Takeru straightened his posture so as to look even more daunting. He considered letting out one of his Pokémon to have sit regally at his feet, but he hated the thought of emulating Giovanni of all people and decided against such a look.

_'Shadows or no shadows?'_ he thought quickly to himself. He certainly enjoyed the pomp and pageantry that went with his position, and he had knack for unsettling his opponents. In a snap decision, he threw his long black bangs forward, shadowing half his face and giving him the overall impression of some dark lord. He just wished it didn't mean having to put up with young Misty's sniggers when she saw him.

"Miss. Misty," he said coolly, not even looking up as he heard at least four people enter the small clearing. "I see you've brought me a challenger."

He stood slowly, taking a few steps forward to examine the group of people. There were two males in the group, but he assumed that it was the younger of the two that Misty had brought to him based on the presence of a Pikachu on his shoulder and the way her eyes darted in his direction.

"One-on-one. No time limits," he said simply, addressing the younger male directly.

His chocolate brown eyes narrowed with determination, and he gave a brief nod as he stepped away from the group. Although not before – as Takeru duly noted – glancing quickly in Misty's direction and sharing a heart felt smile.

_'Oh young love,'_ Takeru thought almost bitterly to himself. He tried to ignore the dull pain that lodge itself in his heart; one that he had felt on almost a daily basis for the past eight years. Try as he might, something inside him couldn't help but resent the two of them. He had given his own love up for the sake of his dream, and he was envious of the boy who had been given the choice that he had taken for granted.

"Pikachu, go!" the boy called, drawing the Pokémon Master from his sad thoughts.

Takeru scoffed. He was almost disappointed in the boy's choice of Pokémon, and it seemed that the battle would not be as challenging as he hoped. He tossed his own Pokéball into the air with a soft smirk.

"Go, Nidoking!"

The large poison/ground Pokémon roared loudly as it came into being in a flash of red light. The little yellow Pokémon didn't even flinch at the sight of it, and Takeru noted that the determination in its masters brown eyes was unwavering. The two clearly were one hell of a team.

_'Maybe this will be more interesting than I first presumed.'_

He let his young challenger make the first move. He was interested to see what the young boy would come up with given that most of pikachu's arsenal would be useless against the drill Pokémon.

"**Volt tackle**!"

Takeru nodded impressed as the pikachu charged up his attack. He called **defence curl**, curious for now just to see how strong this Pokémon was. It was enough that the Pokémon knew such a high level move, even more so given it was unevolved, but it would be interesting see how much damage the little mouse was able to inflict.

Electricity charged around pikachu as he propelled himself towards the massive violet beast. In spite of his defensive position, Nidoking was thrown back by the attack. The attack did more damage than he had expected, and he was incredibly surprised to find that Nidoking appeared to have been affected by the electrical charge, albeit to a minor degree.

Not allowing for such surprise to register on his face, Takeru immediately called for a ground attack; **mud slap**. The muddy projectiles were immediately sent at their opponent, but Pikachu dodged each and every one of them with a rather impressive **agility**. The boy responded with **thunder punch** and Takeru began to understand the boy's strategy – he knew that electric attacks were ineffective on Nidoking, but electricity seemed to add physical power to attacks and protect his own Pokémon from any damage that may be inflicted on the attacker. It was a good strategy, because when that thunder punch hit, it hit hard in spite of the massive size discrepancy between the two Pokémon.

Takeru tried for an **iron tail**, but pikachu was fast and once again dodged the attack with **agility**. If he was going to beat pikachu, he was going to need to act while pikachu was close. The opportunity arose only a couple of attacks later when the boy called for his pikachu to use **volt tackle** once again.

"Hold your ground," he commanded Nidoking as the plan of attack formed in his head. "Wait for it," he said slowly as pikachu came closer. "Now, Nidoking! **Seismic toss**!"

On command, Nidoking caught the small mouse like Pokémon charging towards him, holding tightly in spite of the damage pikachu's attack was doing. Grasping Pikachu's tiny paws, Nidoking began to swing swiftly in circle gaining speed before releasing Pikachu and tossing him aside.

"Now **earthquake**," Takeru called, seeing the mouse getting himself up. That toss would have been enough to defeat most Pokémon, but pikachu was still standing and ready to fight.

Nidoking pounded a heavy fist into the ground, sending shock wave after shock wave in Pikachu's direction before pikachu or his trainer could call for their move. And with that the battle was over. Pikachu was defeated.

"Nidoking, return," Takeru called, resealing his Pokémon in its 'ball. "You did well," he told the boy, watching him cradle the yellow electric mouse in his arms. "It was one of the fiercest battles I've had in a long time. I think you at least deserve to know by whom you were defeated, for it will keep you in high spirits."

The boy looked up, his brown eyes still filled with the same strength and determination with which he had began the battle. He almost felt the urge to look away – those eyes were like something from a distant memory. He felt his heart breaking as he tried to forget.

Shaking off the feeling of despair, he continued proudly, his bright blue eyes examining his opponent. He announced himself fully, something he had never felt the urge to do before in all his years as the champion.

"My name is Jason Takeru Ketchum," he told them proudly, surprised to hear a gasp instilled by his name alone, which had never been known to the public, "and I am the current Indigo Champion and Pokémon Master. May I know the name of the first trainer to come close to beating me in nine years?"

The boy gaped at him, his eyes widening in horror and despair. "No," he said quietly, his voice barely carrying over the space of the clearing. "You can't be. You can't be him," the boy muttered.

The Pokémon Master's eyebrow twitched at the words, taking it as a sign of disrespect and pure insolence. "Why not?" he asked with a hardened jaw. "You don't believe that you were just defeated by most advanced trainer in Kanto. I'm exactly who I say I am, boy."

"You can't be!" the young man cried, tears slipping from his eyes as he began to back away. "You're dead," he whispered desperately. He turned quickly on his heal and was gone before he could question him directly.

Jay raised an eyebrow at the redheaded gym leader as the boy disappeared. She was about to follow after him, but he quickly reached for her arm, holding her back. He frowned as she met him with frightened eyes.

"Who is he?" he asked her, wondering how she could look at him with such horror when they had been acquainted for the past month. "Why did he say that?"

For a few moments, it looked as though Misty was unable to speak. She gaped at him before finally finding the words. Her eyes were wet with tears; tears for the boy who had ran from his defeat. Her mouth formed three words – three words he hadn't expected to ever hear, not after _her_.

"He's your son."

~ to be continued ~

How was that for the first chapter? Ash's parentage is one of the things that I've always felt would need to be properly resolved at some point, and so here's my take on it.

I also wanted to give a bit of insight into Ash and Misty's burgeoning relationship – hasn't really changed that much, only they've finally found a way to resolve their disagreements without resorting to violence. Otherwise, exactly the same Ash and Misty, but with happier endings.

It'll probably take most of the arc to fully resolve the 'daddy' issue, so it might get a bit angstier in places than the first one, but I've tried to throw in some light moments as well. Let me know what you think.


	2. A Mother's Love

**Ash: The Last Stand (History)**

Geez, I was not expecting such a big response to that first chapter. Now I'm all worried that I might let you down with the rest of it - I guess it's my own fault for starting with such a massive revelation. Hopefully this lives up to it all.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pokemon. Jason is mine (I guess). You can borrow him if you like. I won't mind.

* * *

**Episode Title:** History Repeats Itself  
**Closest town/landmark:** Cerulean City Central Park  
**Distance Travelled:** 800m  
**Pokemon mentioned: **Five  
**Official count - days into relationship with former best friend now girl friend: **Four.  
**Cups of tea begrudgingly consumed: **Two.  
**Finding out your long lost father is not only, _not dead_, but also the most esteemed Pokemon trainer in pretty much the whole world: ** _W . T . F_

* * *

Ash: The Last Stand - A Mother's Love

~ Nine Years Earlier: July 3006

Delia Ketchum closed her eyes, swallowing back the tears that threatened to fall from her chocolate coloured eyes. Today was going to be one of those days, and she felt her heart clench in anticipation. Over the years they had become fewer and farther between, but they always hit her hard in the end.

"Ma, look!" her five-year-old son called, bouncing on the floor in front of the television.

"What is it, Ash, honey?" she asked sweetly, taking a seat next to her son. On days like today, he was the only thing that could make her smile. But it was a bittersweet smile, because the same qualities in her son that made her smile, were the very things that made her want to cry. She cuddled up close to him, not giving a single one of her feelings away.

He was so like his father, from his raven locks to his enthusiasm and determination. She felt like her only contributions to the child in her arms were the dark chocolate eyes so different from Jason's brilliant blue.

"They gots a nu Pokey Master," little Ash announced to his mother, pointing excitedly at the television screen. Some sort of ceremony seemed to be taking place with several figures in dark cloaks – the new champion seemed to have opted to go with traditions and keep his identity secret, rather than the more open approach adopted in many of the newer competitions. Her heart saddened at this, knowing it couldn't be him.

"Someday I's going to be a Pokey Master too, Mama," he told her proudly.

"You most definitely are, honey," Delia told him with a watery smile. "You're going to be Worlds Greatest Pokémon Master."

"Do ya think Dad will come home if I's a Pokey Master?" Ash asked hopefully, glancing nervously at her mother.

Delia was shocked by his question, but didn't show it. "Why do you ask that, honey?"

"Well, 'cos Gary said that da reason Dad wasn't here was 'cos he didn't like me, and I thought maybe if I's a Pokey Master then it would be ok," Ash replied sadly, looking down at his hands.

"Don't you listen to that boy, ok, Ash," she told him sternly. "Your dad," she began, taking a shaky breath as she thought of her husband. "Your dad would be here if he could," she told him, almost believing the words herself. "I don't want you ever thinking that he left because he didn't love you. Your father had to follow his dream, but that doesn't mean he didn't love you, Ashy."

"Then why duzzin he come home?" the little boy pouted, not noticing the way his mother's body tensed at the mere mention of his father.

_'Why?'_ Delia asked herself, feeling tears prick behind her eyes. It was a question she had wondered many a time herself, and she didn't have an answer even for herself. So instead she lied.

"Honey, your father died," she told him softly, knowing deep in her heart that the words were false even though she hadn't heard from him at all in the past six years. "You know what that means, don't you, honey?"

"It means he is gone to heaven," Ash replied with a nod, looking sad.

"That's right," she told him softly. "And he gets to be there with all the people that love him . . . like remember how I told you about your grandpa Ash and grandma Nora? Well, he's with them now."

"What 'bout Matt?" the young boy asked. "Is he with him, too?"

Delia nodded as tears pricked her eyes again. The thought of Matthew's short life and tragic end always made her cry. She made a silent prayer for Rebecca, Matthew's mother, hoping that one day the woman would be able to move on from her son's death and finally look her small nephew in the eye. He was, after all, the only link the two of them had left to Jay.

"I bet your dad is taking real good care of Matt," she told him with a forced smile.

Ash nodded, taking in her sad face. He stood up and wrapped his arms around his mother, planting a wet kiss on her cheek. "Mama, I never leave you," he told her as he leaned back to look her honestly in the eye like he saw people do in the soppy TV shows his mum liked to watch. "Pwomise."

Delia smiled, letting her self believe it was true. The Ketchum men dreamed big. She saw the same nature in him that she saw in his father – he could never be kept in one place for long; he was too restless and stubborn for that. Ash was so full of ideals and determination, and like Jay, he would do anything to reach his dream.

Even if it meant leaving her behind.

"What about when you go on your Pokémon journey?" she teased, forcing herself to appear merry in spite of her inner turmoil. "You can't expect me to chase after you the whole time reminding you to change your underwear."

"Ma!" he complained, his cheeks turning red. "That doesn't even count," he argued, changing the subject, "cos even though I's gone, I'll come home heaps of the time so won't really be gone."

Delia pretended to look thoughtful, as though contemplating his promise to her. "Well, what about when you get married?" she asked, smiling a genuine smile when she saw her little boy make a face like he had just bitten into something rotten (or worse – healthy) at the thought of marriage. "I don't think your wife will want you returning home all the time. She might get jealous that you like my cooking more than hers."

"That's gross, Ma," he said, poking his tongue out in disgust to emphasise his point. "Girls are just icky, and I's nevah gettin' married if it means to a _girl_."

Delia chuckled at this, and Ash's face brightened at the sound. He had missed his mother's laughter. "Yours the only girl for me," he told her cheekily, smiling broadly at her.

"But you haven't even met _her_," Delia countered.

"Who?" Ash asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Why the girl you're going to marry. You'll change your mind when you see her."

The little boy scoffed. "Nevah," he announced. "I'll nevah evah like a girl."

"But she's not like other girls," his mother promised. "You see . . . she doesn't wear dresses or ribbons, and she won't even care that much if you put mud in her hair."

She watched her son, noting his reaction. He was intrigued, and her teasing of him was doing wonders for her mood. "But even though she won't care," she continued, a warning tone in her voice, "you better not cross her, 'cause she's got a temper as fiery as her hair."

"Fire hair?" Ash asked, tilting his head cutely to the side in confusion.

Delia smiled, ruffling his messy black hair. "And eyes like the sea," she promised him. "And lips like two roses. And skin as light as snow."

"She sounds weird," Ash muttered darkly, but Delia knew he was just covering up her interest and smiled placidly at his comment. To think that such memories wouldn't even occur to him when he met _her_ years later.

"You know what I think?" she said finally. "I think we should go see the professor. What do you think, Ashy?"

Ash nodded excitedly. "We'll go see the Pokey Mons!" he cried happily, racing upstairs to get himself ready without needing any further encouragement.

Delia made her way to the door, knowing that her son would come barrelling down the stairs in a couple of minutes, and given it his momentum it was best to remove all potential barriers. She was surprised to find a figure on the other side of the door with his hand poised to knock.

"Samuel," she said surprise. "We were just coming to see you. What are you doing here?"

The professor ran a hand absentmindedly through his hair, and Delia tried not to laugh at the poor dye job. He really did humour his eldest grandchild too much sometimes – May Oak had her grandfather completely wrapped around her little finger.

"I just saw the news, and I was coming to see how you were doing," Oak told her with a sympathetic smile.

She smiled weakly in response. Professor Oak was one of the few people that had never passed judgment on her or Ash or even Jay who had come under much scrutiny from her apparent friends and family. The professor was always understanding, and they had become fast friends over her many years in the Pallet community.

Her parents kept telling her just to give up and move on with her life – it had been close to seven years, after all, since she had seen him, and that was apparently long enough for him to be presumed dead by law. She was starting to dread evenings with her parents, especially as they tended to involve some eligible doctor type they were trying to force on her to fill the gap that Jay's absence had left in her life.

Her mother's words still rang in her head. The disappointment was more than evident in Daphne Goodwin's voice.

_"What kind of wife would let her husband gallivant over the country on a childish quest? Really, Cordelia, you don't know how this looks to people."_

But Delia had never stopped believing in his dream, and even though it was his dream that ultimately brought them apart, she would never stop supporting him no matter how far he was.

"Mama, we gots to go see the Pokey Mons," Ash insisted, drawing her back to the present.

"Alright, Ash," Professor Oak said warmly, ignoring the strange look Ash was giving him thanks to his blue/black hair courtesy of his granddaughter. "You can help me feed the starters."

Ash nodded excitedly, dragging the professor down the road towards the lab with great enthusiasm. Delia followed, smiling bittersweetly at the scene. He was just like his father.

And on today of all days, it was the only thing that could make her smile . . .

. . . and the very thing that made her cry.

* * *

Jason Ketchum directed his dragonite to dive as he spotted the familiar red roof from the air. He smiled to himself, feeling completely at peace for the first time in eight years. Just knowing she was near was enough to make him feel at home.

He dropped himself down on her front lawn, but ducked behind a bush when he saw her open the door suddenly to a strange dark haired man. He couldn't help but frown – she had opened the door without him even needing to knock, almost as though she were expecting him.

He watched the two conversing for a moment, noting the smile shared between them. But hope remained, and he tried to convince himself that it was just friendly and that Delia was still his and would be his forever just as they promised on their wedding day. He had faith her – she was his love, his life, and he knew she felt the same.

A child's voice carried to his ears, and the sight of the small boy broke his heart. The child must have been about three – he was rather small so couldn't be older than four and a half. He had dark hair, similar to the man in the lab coat, and Delia's dark chocolate eyes.

Jay could do the math. He hadn't seen her in more than six years, and even by the most lenient calculations, there was no way the little boy was his.

He had lost her. He had gone off to chase some stupid dream, and in the process had lost the thing most important to him. He had finally returned home with his title, ready to settle down and hoping that he was now worthy of Delia, but it was too late. She had moved on.

He wanted so badly to hate her, to hate all of them and their happy little family, but who was he to deny her happiness. It was better this way. He would just keep to himself, and let Delia go one believing he was dead and gone so she could go on with her life. He would let her go – let her be happy – even though it would break his heart.

And so he just watched the scene play out, never knowing the truth. For Jay it was a little four-year-old boy dragging his father up the road while his mother watched over the two with a happy smile. In truth it was a boy of six (well, almost, he would be next month) dragging along an old family friend while his mother smiled, because it was the only thing that could stop her from crying.

* * *

~ Present: August 25, 3016

A trio of tricksters sat crouched in the bushes, stunned into silence. Team Rocket had watched the whole battle, waiting for an opportune moment to steal the elusive Pikachu when the twerps least suspected it.

"That's the twerp's dad?" James gaped with wide eyes as they watched the older twerp, the redheaded twerp, and the interchangeable female twerp chase after the main twerp. The man, who by wonders of strange events turned out to be the father twerp, just stared at the point through which they left, still trying to come to terms with the information.

Unexpectedly, Jesse was the first to make any movement, stepping out from their hiding place into the clearing so she now stood before the man in question.

"No more battles," he said absently, not even really attending to her at all, his eyes focused on nothing but the break in the forest where his apparent son and his friends had left. When she didn't move he let his gaze fall on her, a look of annoyance on his face.

He took in her features - blue eyes so like his own, long pink locks that reminded him of a man that had been like a father to him all his life. "Josephine?" he asked unsurely. She nodded and threw herself into his arms, tears streaming from her eyes as she clung to his chest.

"Uncle Jay," she sobbed, her whole body shaking with tears. Jay just held his niece tighter.

Today was certainly one for the record books. First, he found out he had a son – apparently - and now he found himself embraced by his young niece whom had been lost to her family for almost fifteen years. The little girl he had known so well, who he had been as close to as his own sister, had now grown to a beautiful young woman. She looked so like her father – the sapphire blue eyes the only evidence of the Ketchum blood running through her veins

"Josephine," he said quietly. "Your mother has worried herself sick all these years, and here you are, safe and sound."

"How are they?" Jesse asked him, her face contorted with guilt.

Jay sighed, a sad look on his face. "Your father hasn't been well since you left," he told her sadly. "I don't think he could handle losing both his children like that. You were always his little princess, Josie. Losing Matt was one thing, but losing you was too much. I think he held on to his hope as long as he could, but it wasn't enough."

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, looking at the ground.

"You should go see your mother," he said in response.

"You should talk to your son," she countered, meeting his gaze pointedly with a smug, almost callous smile. The walls had been broken down momentarily, but the strong, cold Jesse was back now with a vengeance.

"I don't have a son," Jay responded. "The only woman I was ever with . . . the only woman I ever loved . . ." he sighed sadly. "She gave up on me."

"Maybe she didn't," Jesse said softly. "He looks like you," she offered helpfully, "and sometimes he does things and I think to myself, 'that's exactly what Uncle Jay would have done'.

"He reminds me of Matthew," she finished, her eyes filling with tears.

"Hey, Jos," he said quietly, taking his niece in his arms once again. "It's okay. You don't have to be sad about it anymore. He was never meant for this world."

Jesse nodded as she blinked back tears, pushing herself from the familiar embrace. "You should talk to him," she told him again. "And her," she added.

Jay nodded and sighed. "He has her eyes," he admitted quietly, realizing just what about the boy had broken his heart. "And her smile. I haven't even seen her in over sixteen years, but I'll never forget that smile."

"You saw their reactions," Jesse told him. "They've got no reason to lie about this."

"It's a lot to take in."

"You think it's a lot for you?" Jesse asked incredulous. "I just found out the kid we've been stalking and trying to rob for the past six years is my friggin' cousin, so deal with it!"

Jay was a silent for a moment taking in her words. "It's good to see you, Josie."

Jesse nodded. "You too, Uncle Jay. You too."

~ to be continued ~

So technically this inconsistent with canon, but Rocket Canon isn't even consistent within itself so I think it gives me a bit more artistic license here. It's too bad I can't add pictures to this, cos I could totally draw you a family tree, but all it would amount to would be me saying that Jesse (Josephine) is Jason's sister's daughter AKA his niece and therefore Ash's cousin.

Well, I've got a little bonus here for you, just by way of introducing Jason/Jay.

* * *

**_Extra: Know Your Master – an unpublished interview with Jason Takeru Ketchum from SuperPoké (a biweekly special interest Pokémon magazine)_**

_Amy Masters interviews recently Jason Takeru Ketchum after his big win against the former champion, Lucian Eli Cowley. _

**AM: Jason, let me just say a big congratulations from all of us here at SuperPoké magazine. It really was an incredible battle, and a well-earned results. Now, seeing as this is your first interview, we're going to start with the basics. Name, age, etc. Just tell us about yourself.**

JK: Ok, well, my name is Jason Ketchum, I'm twenty-eight. I was born in Pallet Town, but grew up in Vermillion, and then back to Pallet after I graduated. That's it really.

**AM: That's a good start. How about we talk about your Pokémon? You must have had a pretty impressive team to beat the reigning Champion, as well as the elites.**

JK: A great team. All six of them have been with me if not from the start, then pretty damn close to it. Nidoking, Jolteon, Houndoom, Machoke, Dragonite, and Lapras have all been a huge part of my journey right from the start.

**AM: So what was it like growing up for you? I know that the journey to being a Pokémon Master is not an easy one.**

JK: No, I suppose they really make you work for it. I think I had a pretty good childhood. My parents died when I was about eight, but my sister Rebecca has always been there for me. Her and David pretty much raised me, and they made sure that I never felt like I was missing out. My family has always encouraged me to follow my dreams, and I know I wouldn't be where I am today without them.

**AM: But, of course, it wasn't just your sister and brother-in-law supporting you. Let's talk about your 'someone special'.**

JK: _[With a warm smile on his face]_ Can't forget about her, can we? More than anyone else, Delia has been my driving force in all of this. Everything I've gone through has been for her, to bring me closer to her. None of this, even reaching my dream like this, would mean a thing without her.

**AM: That is so incredible to hear. Are you guys planning a family?**

JK: It's definitely on my list. Now that I'm here, I hope to finally get the chance to have a normal sort of life and raise a family together. Maybe one day, when I'm defeated, it'll be my own son to whom I'll be handing over the title of Pokémon Master. That would definitely be something.

**AM: I bet. Now, speaking of the title, let's talk about your journey a bit. How long did it take you to get to where you are?**

JK: A long time. I was twenty when I started my journey, but it was something I had been building towards since I was ten. I thought I knew everything I needed to know and thought I was going to win the whole thing based on type trumps and levels. My first wakeup call was getting beaten – badly – by Will in Cerulean; he took my magneton out without breaking a sweat with a goldeen of all things. The next was getting knocked out early at the Pokémon League, and running back home with my tail between my legs.  
It was only thanks to Delia that I kept going, kept learning. It took eight years and three attempts at Indigo before I finally reached my dream.

**AM: It sounds like she's been a real inspiration to you throughout your whole journey.**

JK: She has, and it's going to be good getting back to her.

**AM: So, what was your first Pokémon?**

JK: My starter was Ash. She was a charmander if it wasn't obvious enough by the name. Technically, my first Pokémon was a pikachu, which I accidentally caught when I was sixteen, but being under-age I wasn't allowed to keep it.

**AM: How do you accidentally capture a Pokémon?**

JK: _[laughs]_ Long story. Too long for this interview.

**AM: Well, seeing as we're on the topic, how do you feel about the reforms going on that may potentially reduce the legal age for owning Pokémon to as young as twelve?**

JK: I think it's good. The reasons behind the age limit were fears over how dangerous Pokémon might be, but these are truly unfounded. Yes, some Pokémon may be violent, but the same can be said about any creatures. Your Pokémon become like your best friends, and I think every kid should experience that sort of relationship as soon as possible.

**AM: So, you're all for it? How are you going to feel defending your title against kids half your age?**

JK: I don't see it as a problem. If they're a great trainer, then age doesn't come into it.

**AM: Such wise words. Well, that brings us to the end of the interview. Is there anything else you wish to say before you leave us?**

JK: Just to keep on reaching for your dreams. There are a lot of things that make a Pokémon Master – luck, skill, hard work – but I think the number one attribute that determines it in the end is tenacity and you need that by the bucket loads.

**AM: Thank you. It's been a pleasure talking to you, Jason, and I hope you stay with us for years to come.**

_Interview conducted June 28th 3007._

_

* * *

P.S. If anyone spotted any continuity errors in ages or years or time frames etc. let me know please. Every time I edit this I decide to make Ash at least a year younger for one reason or another (he started off nine but then the language wasn't right so dropped to eight, then six going on seven and now five going on six because nine years seemed a long time to spend on a journey when you've got a life waiting for you back home)._


	3. Manifest Truth

**Ash: The Last Stand (History)**

Sorry it took me so long to update. I started a full-time job for summer (oh why would I do such a thing when I could have spent almost the whole summer writing) and didn't have a chance to write while I got used to the hours and waking up before ten (noon if I had my way). Now I'm into the swing of things, I've got some significant writing done and no longer feel like I have to hold onto this chapter as a safety blanket for fear of the dreaded writers block.

This one was definitely a doozer to write. It didn't finish anything like I intended it to, but I think I liked how it worked out in the end. This chapter was initially going to be very Delia-centric, only I realize you'd much rather hear about Ash and I'd much rather write about Ash _and_ Misty so I came to a sort of compromise.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pokemon. If I did, I think my first act of power would be to axe or at least reduce the puns in the show. I don't care if they're funny - if sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, puns are a close second.

* * *

**Episode Title:** A Mother's Love  
**Closest town/landmark:** Pallet Town  
**Distance Travelled:** 9 plus years into the past and back  
**Pokemon mentioned: **Two  
**Total number of Ketchums featured this episode: **Four (plus a future Ketchum ^.~)  
**Disastrous misunderstandings: **One  
**Having to come to terms with the fact that the kid you've been stalking and trying to mug for the past six years is your friggin' cousin: **_Priceless._

* * *

Ash: The Last Stand - Manifest Truth

"Oh god," Misty half sobbed as she sat with the broken boy. "Oh, Ash, I'm so sorry," she told him as she wrapped her arms lovingly around his shoulder. Pikachu sat beside her, gently nuzzling his trainer's hand and offering words of comfort in his Poke-tongue.

Ash said nothing, leaning into her comforting touch. Everything he thought he knew was a lie, and she was the only truth left. He had been lied to all his life, but he couldn't even tell the source of the lie. All he knew was that his whole life he had believed that his father was dead, but today's events revealed that to be false.

That man – his own father – was very much alive in the very not dead sense of the word. And that man had no idea who he was. They were strangers who just happened to share the same last name.

He wondered how much of it was a lie. Had his mother ever really been married to the man? Or simply taken up his last name on a whim to avoid the stigma that went with being an unmarried mother? Or maybe they got divorced because of him, and his mother simply lied to save face?

There was no denying that this man - this stranger - was his father. Their faces looked almost identical, except that one was worn with age and hardship, and the other still had the touch of youth. Right now their eyes both told the same story of loss and disillusionment, even though one set was blue and the other brown.

Misty scolded herself for not seeing it earlier. The handsome Mr. Takeru had always reminded her of somebody, but she had never bothered giving it more thought than a passing curiosity. If only she had known . . .

"I should have known," she said quietly, her heart clenching with pain as she held him close. She hated seeing him in so much anguish. He was the most important person in her life, and right now he was suffering in a way that she couldn't begin to understand.

After a while, his breathing seemed to deepen, and she knew he had fallen asleep in her arms. She wasn't surprised. His newly found knowledge had taken a lot out of him, and at least sleeping would stop him from thinking about it. But he wasn't smiling in his sleep like he usually did, and she doubted it was a restful sleep. She gently adjusted him so that his head lay in her lap and ran her fingers through his dark hair.

"Misty, you couldn't have known," Brock said gently, offering his friend some comfort. He read the guilt in her eyes, but could do nothing to reassure her that it wasn't her fault.

"But I should have known," Misty argued back, her voice low and laden with emotion. "If I had known I could have warned him. I could have prepared him. He shouldn't have found out like this. I should have protected him, somehow."

"Misty," Brock told her, an authoritative note his voice that made her look his way, "none of us knew. We all thought that he was dead, just like Ash. Just because you met him first, doesn't make this your fault."

Misty sighed. She knew that Brock was right, but she couldn't help feeling the way she did. Ash meant so much to her, and seeing him happy brought her so much joy that she felt she should have prevented him from ever feeling pain. Her own happiness was so vested in his that it was making her own heart ache to see him this way.

She smiled down at him as her fingers traced along the contours of his face. He was so strong, but no one would ever know how hard he had worked to get to where he was. Even she had been fooled at first into thinking he had things easy, but she had been allowed to see him in his weakest moments, and she knew there was more to Ash Ketchum than the happy-go-lucky boy that everybody saw.

His father's apparent death had shaped him. It made him the person he was today. It drove his dream. And if that wasn't true, then what was left? What was he if not the son of deceased trainer Jay Ketchum? What was his journey if not a token to his dead father? How could he keep following in the footsteps of a lie now that he knew the truth?

His father was his hero - he had been all his life. But now all that was destroyed. His idol seemed nothing more than a coward; a man who deserted his family and left them all behind for the same dream he himself pursued. There was nothing courageous about it, nothing honourable, nothing but selfishness to hold him self to.

There was nothing heroic about the truth.

"Brock?" Misty asked, glancing up briefly away from the boy in her lap. "Do you mind watching Ash for a little while? I just . . . I just need to go . . . do something. I'll be back before he wakes."

Brock nodded as she got up from the position, bending down to kiss her sleeping boyfriend on cheek. "What are you going to do, Misty?" Brock asked, looking at her with deep concern. Something in her older friend's eyes told her that he already knew where she was going.

"I'm just going to see if I can talk to him," Misty admitted, looking almost as broken as Ash. "I need to fix this, and maybe if . . . maybe if the two of them talked it would fix it somehow. Maybe he didn't mean to leave them. Maybe something happened, like he had amnesia all this time and he didn't know. Or maybe something was stopping him from returning.

"I don't know," she complained with a pained look, "but there has to be something that will makes this ok for Ash. I have to make this right."

She glanced at the sleeping figure, tears threatening to slip from her eyes as she noted the expression on his face. His lips formed a tight line, and his forehead was creased. It seemed that even sleep offered him little peace.

She kneeled down before him, gently caressing and smoothing out the tight lines denoting worry and anguish. Again, she kissed his cheek before offering three words of comfort that one day she hoped she would be brave enough to say to his face. "I love you, Ash," she whispered in his ear as the tears she failed to withhold dropped from her cheek to his. "Please be alright."

And with those last words she was on her way, Pikachu trailing on her heels. She wanted to yell and scream at the one who had caused her loved one such pain. She wanted to know how he could leave such a wonderful person, how he could turn his back on someone as precious as Ash, but she had to wonder if he even knew what he had left behind.

No, there was someone else she had to talk to first. Because that someone knew the truth in all these lies. And so she diverted her course away from the reserve, back towards the gym where she dialled a familiar number and waited for a familiar figure to answer.

_All truth is relative;  
All lies be damned._

It rung once. Twice. Three times. Three rings later the answering machine picked up.

A cheerful voice rang out loudly, bringing the noise to an end. _"Hi, you've reached the Ketchum residence. We're not in right now, so just go ahead and leave a message. If this is my Ashy, I hope you've been changing your 'you-know-whats' every day and if I find out you haven't I won't hesitate to whip out the baby photos next time I see 'you-know-who', which I'm sure she will appreciate."_

_"_Mrs. Ketchum?_"_ 'you-know-who' spoke anxiously, speaking to the answering machine. "Um . . . I . . . If you could just call me back as soon as you get this. Just . . . just call me back . . . please. I-"

_"Misty? What's wrong? What's happened?"_ Delia asked quickly as she picked up the phone, cutting off Misty's words. She flicked on the video screen, and the image of the redhead nervously biting her bottom lip only made her more concerned.

"I need to . . . talk to you," Misty admitted reluctantly, glancing off to one side. "It's about Ash's father . . . he's –"

_"I'll be right there."_

Misty nodded as the video screen went blank. She still hadn't managed to convince herself that she was doing the right thing, but deep down she knew it was what had to be done. Delia was the only one who knew the truth, the only one who could fix things for Ash even if this wasn't something she wanted to face.

She walked back through the gym, nervously wringing her hands together. It wasn't a habit she was prone to, but for the time being she considered that she had a right to be anxious. She felt as though she was in the eye of a storm that seemed to be circling hungrily around the person she cared for most. Pikachu nuzzled her cheek reassuringly, but it did little to calm her anxiety.

"Misty," a voice called, jarring her from her thoughts.

She gasped as she met the anxious deep blue eyes of what was probably the last person she expected to see right now. "Mister Ta- I mean, Mr. Ketchum," she stuttered awkwardly, bowing her head respectfully at the man. "I . . . you can't be here right now," she said quickly. "You have to go."

"What?" Jason asked, his eyes narrowing in confusion and his lost expression looking so like that of his offspring. "I just wanted to talk to you about . . . about my son?"

"I'm sorry," she said. "I know . . . another time. You have to leave right –"

"Misty!" another voice called, this one female and making its way towards where they were. "Where are you, dear? Is he . . ."

Delia trailed off as she moved into the room, her eyes falling upon the unexpected inhabitant. "_Jason_," she whispered breathlessly, her eyes tearing up as she looked at him.

Delia had no idea what to do. Here was the man she had been longing to see for the past sixteen years. His journey had always been considered a temporary separation, and in the beginning he had visited constantly, but life got in the way.

When she first found out about her pregnancy, she concealed the truth. Jason was just two badges away from competing in Orre at the time, and she dreaded the thought of all his hard work going to waste. But before she got the chance to tell him the good news, a military coup in the far off region had cut off all lines of communication with the outside world. The result was almost a year without any notice that he was alive.

And then the letter came. That strange letter filled with apologies and self-deprecation. He hated himself for leaving her, but he wouldn't let himself return until he achieved his goal – until he was what he deemed a man worthy of her love and respect. It was what had her on the edge of the seat every year as the competition concluded, praying they would announce a change among their ranks and reveal a new master by the name of Jason Takeru Ketchum.

He stared back at her, his heart seeming to stop for an indeterminable period of time. And then she started moving towards him, and before he even knew what was happening, she was in his arms and everything was right in the world.

"Oh god," Delia said as she stepped back suddenly, her expression changing from serene calm to restrained fear. "Does Ash know?" Misty nodded slowly, biting her lip once again. "No," she muttered quietly. "What have I done?"

"I didn't know what else to do," Misty spoke, her voice heavy with emotion and her eyes welling with unshed tears. "I've never seen him so broken."

Delia frowned as she looked between Misty and her estranged husband. She knew they were both waiting for some kind of explanation. Both of them were in need of her answer, but there was someone else who needed it more.

"I need to see my Ashy," Delia said simply, determination lighting her eyes. "Where is he?"

Misty nodded, seemingly understanding. "He's at the Pokémon Centre. I think . . ." she began, choosing her words carefully. "I think it would be best if you both stay here, and I go get him."

"I think you're right, dear."

The redhead gave a little determinative nod of her head, and then she was gone, leaving Delia alone with a man she had only dreamed of seeing for the past sixteen years. She studied him silently, noting the changes that their years apart had brought him. He was as handsome as she remembered, but there was a sort of harshness to his features that seemed unfamiliar to her.

"You need a haircut," she said suddenly raising her hand to run her fingers through his raven locks, before halting her gesture as she realized it may not be appropriate.

"You look beautiful as ever, Del-girl," he replied softly, his deep blue eyes full of gentleness and love.

Once more silence enveloped them, and once more Delia broke it suddenly. "I should have told you I was pregnant," she confessed, not daring to meet his gaze. "I wanted to as soon as I found out, but it was so close to the competition and I didn't think a month or two would make that big a difference. I was going to tell you as soon as you got back."

"So he really is my son?" Jay asked, almost not believing her. She nodded, glancing up briefly to watch his reaction. "I'm sorry I wasn't there, Del," he said gently. "I was a coward. I didn't think I could face you without this title, and then when I finally achieved it . . . I guess I stopped believing in you. I thought you moved on."

"How could I?" she asked him with a watery smile, taking a step back towards. "It's always been you, Jay. No one else could ever come close."

"But what about the man with the navy hair? And the little boy?" he asked desperately.

"You came back?" she questioned, making a guess from his strange questions. "When?"

"About nine or so years ago," he answered sheepishly. "I saw you with a man and a four-year-old."

Delia kindly covered her mouth to hide the smile that pulled at her lips. "He always was a runt of a boy," she said lightly, "just like his father."

It was now Jason's turn to do the math. He knew from Misty that Ash was sixteen (that girl would not shut up about the boy, seemingly giving away every detail of his life except for his last name by some strange coincidence) and would have been almost six around the time he tried to return. It was the high end of the spectrum, but it was certainly conceivable given that Jason himself hadn't really looked his age until his mid-teens.

Seeing his expression change, Delia reached into her handbag and pulled out her purse. With care she pulled a photo free from its place and handed to Jason to examine.

And there it was, clear as day. The little four-year-old boy he had seen all those years ago, sitting behind a frosted cake in the shape of the number six. There is was – his son looking back at him.

Delia handed him another photo, this one of a much younger Ash – a dark haired infant wrapped in his mother's arms. He smiled as he saw the words noted on the back of the photograph: _Ashton Satoshi Ketchum, August 1 3000._ It was only right that his son be born on the league start date.

"So . . ." he asked with a smile, as a cheeky thought occurred to him, "him and the gym leader? How long's that been going on for?" he questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Delia returned his smile, feeling some of the weight she had carried for the last sixteen years lift from her shoulder. She thought for a moment, before giving Jason as precise an answer as she could manage.

"Six years, three weeks, and four days."

* * *

Misty moved quickly through the Pokémon centre, not even stopping to greet Nurse Joy as she headed up to the room currently occupied by her friends. She strode in, directing her eyes to the now empty couch before diverting her questioning gaze to Brock who stood in the kitchen making cookies.

"Where is he?" she asked, her pitch rising with worry.

"He just went to the bedroom to lay down," Brock replied calmly, trying his best to calm Misty. "He woke up a few minutes ago, asking for you. I told him you and Pikachu would be back shortly."

Misty nodded, calming a little at Brock's explanation. Pikachu jumped from her shoulder, making his way to the bowl of Pokechow Brock had lovingly prepared in his absence.

"I called Delia," she said suddenly, cringing as she awaited Brock's response.

"I think that was a good idea."

"They're both at the gym," she added. "Do you think he'll want to see them?"

Brock shrugged, his expression thoughtful. "I don't know. You'll have to ask him."

Misty sighed and reluctantly made her way to the bedroom. She was dreading Ash's reaction. She had a tendency to act first, and ask questions later, and that was exactly what she had done. She had hoped that this was what was best for Ash – what he needed – but had not spared a thought to wonder whether it was what he wanted.

The room was dark when she entered and made her way to lump curled in the far most bed. Kneeling down in front of him, she gently stroked the face of the sleeping figure, pushing stray locks of hair behind his ear as his dark eyes slowly flickered open.

"Hey," she said softly, offering him a weak smile.

He frowned in response. "Where'd you go?" he asked groggily, sounding like a meek child rather than the strong sixteen-year-old boy she knew.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there when you woke up," she apologized. She breathed deeply before continuing in order to summon up her courage. "I hope you're not mad with me, Ash, but I called your mum. She's at the gym right now . . . with the Pokémon Master," she added, choosing to go with the most neutral of titles. 'Jason' might seem overly familiar, where as it was probably too soon for 'your dad' and calling him 'Mr. Ketchum' had been too strange an experience the first time to hazard a repeat.

Ash just nodded and sat up, making his way out like some kind of zombie. "Ash?" she called softly, trying to break him from his trance. He stopped, allowing her to bring his face around to hers. "This . . . him being alive . . . it doesn't change anything. You're still the same person you were yesterday, and this – nothing will ever change the way I feel about you.

"I'm glad it's you," she added softly, as she pulled him into a warm embrace. "I'm always glad it's you."

He almost smiled at her words, somehow sensing the deeper meaning that his conscious mind was not ready to acknowledge. But his heart was heavy, and all he could manage was the briefest twitch of his lips and the words "I'm glad it's me too."

The group walked back to the gym, everything enveloped in a grim silence. Even Dawn's usually bubbly mood was dampened by her friends' sadness.

"Do you want me to go with you?" Misty asked as they stopped inside the lobby. He shook his head, and she reluctantly let him go with only Pikachu to accompany him.

The sight that greeted him was one he never thought he would see – his two parents sitting side by side, his father's arm wrapped around his mother's waist, and her leaning against his shoulder with a warm smile.

"I always knew you were alive, Jay," Delia said quietly, rolling her fingers over their matching gold bands. "I always knew you'd come back to us."

"Then why'd you tell me otherwise?" Ash cut in, feeling a sense of betrayal. His own mother had lied to him. She told him he was dead, which obviously wasn't true and which she obviously never believed herself.

"Ashy," Delia cooed, jumping up and rushing towards her son. "Oh, honey, I'm so sorry you found out this way. If I had only known-"

"You would have thought of a better lie?" Ash suggested, cutting off her attempts to placate him.

"I thought it was for the best," she offered, looking down guiltily at her feet.

He scoffed and turned on his heel.

"Ash, wait," she called. "We need to talk about this. You can't just walk away from this."

"He did," was the spiteful reply.

"Ash, wait," Jason called, finally speaking up. He made a move to the young boy's side, putting a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

Ash turned to face him, giving his long lost father a cool look.

"Ash . . . uh . . . I know I'm probably the last person you want to hear anything from, but don't take this out on your mother," he said awkwardly, giving his son a crocked smile. "She did the best job she could raising you alone like that, and I should have been there, for both of you. I shouldn't have let my dream take me away from what mattered most.

"But I'm here for you now . . . uh . . . if you need me," he offered hopefully. "I'll be around Pallet for awhile so if you need to talk, just come see me . . . ok?"

Ash just nodded stoically and walked away.

"How'd it go?" Misty asked as he returned to the lobby, his face completely unreadable. "Did you work everything out?"

"We've got to go now," he said simply.

"But you-"

"I'm already a day and half behind," he said, cutting her off. He stared grimly at the ground, once again ruing the confiscation of his hat. "We've got to go. Now."

"Okay," she agreed quietly while Dawn and Brock gaped. She pulled him into a warm hug that seemed to be for both their benefits, squeezing him tightly as though she were afraid to let him go.

"I'll see you soon," she promised, forcing him to meet her eye as she cupped his face in her hands. "Don't you go forgetting me, Ash Ketchum," she teased, with a pout.

"Never, Myst," he promised, cracking a tiny smile.

She nodded in agreement before briefly pressing her lips to his. "Call me," she reminded him, tugging at his messy hair.

He nodded and the five of them began to move towards the door. Not a sound passed between the group, not even from Pikachu who was perched on his masters shoulders.

Both Ash and Misty had expected to be sad when they eventually parted ways once again in Ash's journey, but this seemed to take it to a whole new level. The fact that he was leaving Misty seemed to be overshadowed by the greater burden of recent discoveries.

_All truth is relative; all lies be damned._

~ to be continued ~

Every now and then you come up with the perfect line, and I think this one is it for me: Everything he thought he knew was a lie, and she was the only truth. It makes my eyes prick every time I read it, and I just think it's the sweetest thing.

Such a difficult chapter to write. I didn't initially intend to leave the issue hanging like this, but it really isn't the sort of thing you can get over in one day. And then I went and changed my mind about the epicenter of Ash's pain - I was going to focus on some sort of identity crisis, but then I realized there was something much worse: betrayal, and you _definitely_ don't get over betrayal in one day.

* * *

Just want to quickly answer a question from a review. To Rogue Ninja about the year 3000 stuff. Really it's just a convenience thing - 3000 just makes for really easy math and it's so far into the future that if I say it's a Tuesday nobody's going to stop me and say 'nuh-uh the 2nd of January 3017 is a Friday' unless they have a lot of time (if anyone has that sort of time on their hands, I'll give you some dates and you can tell me now what sort of days I'll be expecting). I'm not even entirely convinced that they are on this planet, and so the concept of '3000' is probably a meaningless one. Might be some sort of immigration from earth when the sun blew up, which would explain the low population (have been watching a bit of Doctor Who lately). Although I do think it would need to be more than 200 years forward - I mean, yes the pokeball technology isn't that advanced to say 1000 years, but their medical technology is off the chart. They seem to have eliminated almost every known disease and have the ability to cure them in less time than it takes for asprin to start working. That alone has got to warrant at least 750 years forward, right?  
Don't think there's much relevance to it regardless. It's just a way of me to keep track of time. I think I'm going to get in more trouble later when I bring up evolution - then the issue will be that I haven't gone far enough because evolution takes millions of years, not 100's and if they were evolved, then natural selection should mean that non-Pokemon-animals would not exist as the evolutionary pressures that would cause the development of Pokemon would cause extinction of others.  
For future reference, the speed of evolution may be justified by cross-species-hybridization with some sort of genetically malleable alien species, and any non-Pokemon-animals in existence seem to be domesticated animals i.e. animals used for food or pets, or the fish in Misty's aquarium and these animals have not survived through their own adaptations, but through humans breeding them. Who knows how people survived - they probably moved to a planet when the sun blew up where the alien species already existed, crossed them with the animals they brought with them and then realized that they couldn't treat them as animals because Pokemon had a high degree of consciousness and cognition that made them too human to be pets or food, but not quite human enough. See, it brings us right back to where we started.

Right, don't think there's anything else I wanted to say, other than that I'm slow for only just realizing that Brock is supposed to be Chinese. Now it all makes so much sense.

Hope you all enjoyed it. Will try to put the next one up soon, but can't make any promises yet.


	4. Out of the Blue

**Ash: The Last Stand (History)**

After the last chapter, I got a lot of questions regarding Mrs. K's speedy appearance in Cerulean. For anyone else who was wondering, she used Mr. Mime's teleport.

So this chapter is a little lighter after the first few, and probably seems a little on the filler side, but I wanted to try and write something Dawn-centric (and therefore probably ruin my good record for characterization) and give the main characters a bit of a reprieve. It is also ridiculously long - almost 7K! Hope you like. Personally I found it all rather amusing.

_'Italics'_ indicate either flashback, dream sequence, or anything out of chronological/real time.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pokemon, but only think of what wonderful pokeshippy world it would be if I did.

* * *

**Episode Title:** Manifest Truth  
**Closest town/landmark: **Cerulean City  
**Distance Travelled:** 0km  
**Pokemon mentioned: **One  
**Pokemon that should have been mentioned: **One (Mr. Mime - would have avoided a whole lot of confusion that way)  
**Loves rekindled: **One  
**Fathers found: **One  
**Official count - days into relationship with former best friend now girlfriend: **Four.  
**Approximate length of relationship to date: **2215.5 days.  
**Mother-Son bonds perhaps irreparably damaged: **One?  
**Saying 'I love you' without actually saying 'I love you':** _Priceless._

_There are some things that cannot be calculated . . . for everything else . . . there's dashboard applications . . ._

_

* * *

  
_

Ash: The Last Stand - 晴天の霹靂

Or 'Out of the Blue'

Dum Dummmm!

Two ominous notes rang through the clearing, signalling the arrival of three much needed adversaries. Ash was caught half way between annoyance and relief – he could honestly do with the distraction right now, and so the predictable presence of Team Rocket (perhaps the only certainty in his life at the moment) was a welcomed one.

It had been almost a week since they had departed from Cerulean, and Ash certainly wasn't in any better a mood than when he had left. He still wasn't on speaking terms with his mother, although he had made the obligatory phone call when they made it to a Pokémon Centre only to let her know he was still alive – he had made a very cruel comment along similar lines that he immediately regretted when he saw the hurt look in his mother's eyes, but he was still too hurt by her lies to apologise. Maybe when he was feeling more himself he would do the right thing and make it up to her, but right now he was finding it hard to get past that sense of betrayal.

He had talked briefly to his father, which had certainly been an uncomfortable experience. He still wasn't sure what to call him. The man had given him the background to his 'disappearance', putting a case forward for Delia. Ash didn't relent. He wasn't mad at her for the decisions she made – he understood that she had made a sacrifice and she had never meant for that to leave him essentially fatherless for the first sixteen years of his life.

He told Jason as much.

_"Ash," Jason replied, sympathy laden in his voice, "you mother did her best by you. You know it's true. You couldn't have understood the truth, and that was all she could offer you._

_"Your Ma has made so many sacrifices for us men and our dreams," he uttered. "Can you honestly say that knowing what you do now, you could have left her all those years ago to pursue your own dream? How do you tell a little boy that the thing he desired most was the very thing that was keeping his father away from him?"_

_"That's not the point," Ash huffed. "She lied to me. My own mother lied to me. She should have told me the truth and given me the option myself. I know I was only young, but I could have made that choice for myself."_

_"Please, Ash," Jason begged. "This is my fault, not hers. If you want to be mad at anyone be mad at me. If you want to blame someone, then blame me. Just don't do this to your mother. You're breaking her heart."_

_Ash frowned, the words breaking his resistance. "I'm not ready to forgive her," he said quietly._

_"Yeah, well, when you are," Jason suggested, "don't forget to bring flowers. You're going to have some serious making up to do, son, and your Ma likes baby's breath among other things." A hint if ever I heard one._

He had talked to Misty as well, and as much as he generally enjoyed her presence it had been hell sitting through her concerned looks and sad smiles. He was sick of people treating him like he was going to fall to pieces at any moment. He was sick of them dancing around the subject. At least Team Rocket was indifferent to his current concerns.

"Prepare for trouble," James began dramatically, his rose bearing figure outlined in light.

Jesse's silhouette appeared next. "An' make dat double."

"To protect the words from devastation."

"Ta unite awll peeples wit in dis nation."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"Ta extend owur weach ta da stars abud."

Pause.

"James."

"Team Wrocket bast off at da spweed of loight."

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight, fight, fi-ight."

"Meowth dats right!"

"Woobafet!"

"Mime!"

The foursome shared confused glances, each looking thoroughly disturbed by what just happened. Things only became more disturbing when the back lighting was removed to reveal a perfectly posed cardboard cut out of the only female member of their group.

"What the . . .? Where's Jesse?" Ash asked stupidly, her absence more than a little notable. It was rare to see them without Jesse, especially as she was the main aggressor of the group.

James and Meowth glanced at one another nervously, as though they had somehow believed the twerps would be fooled by their elaborate display. This was hardly a reasonable belief given how much had been off about the performance. For starters, they had changed the line allocation of the first three stanzas, which gave the whole thing away from start – it was well-known that Jesse had fought tooth and nail for her portion of the lines, making small concessions (e.g. 'fight, fight, fi-ight') whenever it came into contention in order to secure it, so such a change would never occur unless she was absent. This was only confirmed by her perfectly still position through out the whole act, and a familiar accented delivery that definitely didn't belong to Jesse.

Ash briefly wondered how stupid Team Rocket thought they were.

"She's sick!" "She's on vacation," Meowth and James uttered at the same time. They shared another nervous glance before James sighed despondently and admitted the truth. "She's gone to visit her family."

"Jesse has family?" Ash asked, seemingly having assumed that, like all true villains, Jesse had simply been called into existence one day of her own fruition.

"Yes," they replied, sharing another nervous glance. "Why is that surprising?"

Ash shrugged. "I guess it's because she never really acts like she's got someone to miss," Dawn suggested thoughtfully.

"Well she does," James defended snarkily. "She's got a mother and father, and an uncle and a . . . uh . . . cousin." He finished the last part awkwardly, glancing nervously at Ash rather than Meowth this time.

"Well who'd have though it," Brock replied drolly.

"Big deal," Ash muttered. "It's not like she's the first person to have family. I've got a cousin too, you know."

"We know," the two crooks replied painfully.

"Brock's got them too," Ash continued obliviously, now caught in some sort of rant. "He's got loads of 'em. Like fifty or something. Dawn hasn't got any, but that's cos both her parents were only childs, so its not like she could do anything about it. Even Misty's got cousins, although you couldn't tell by lookin' at them that they're related. And Gary's got a cousin-"

"Hey!" Meowth called, cutting him off as the pair jumped into defensive positions. "Quit distracting us. Dis is a stick up, ya know. We don' care 'bout ya sordid inta-related-ness."

"Yeah, so hand over your Pokémon," James said in support. He almost rolled his eyes at his own expression. Sometimes he didn't understand why they bothered going through the hassle of asking them to 'hand them over' when they all knew it would end in a battle.

He almost mimed along when the twerps screamed 'never' at the top of their lungs and called on their first Pokémon. James did the same, tossing Jesse's seviper onto the field. It was going to have to be a fair fight this time, and given the odds, James would much rather use Jesse's Pokémon than see his own so badly beaten.

"Seviper, poison missile attack!" James called dramatically.

"Use **agility**, Pikachu," Ash commanded in response.

Pikachu moved quickly, readying to avoid an attack at any moment, but none ever came.

"Pi?" the yellow mouse questioned, tilting his head in confusion, as he stopped mid-agility.

"Dammit!" James cried. "Jos' told you to obey me, you snake, and obey me you will. I said poison missile!"

"Uh . . . Jimmy boy?" Meowth cut in, looking amusedly at his companion. "You should know, der ain't really any such attacks as 'poison mis-sile'. Maybe ya shud try sumthin' dat actually exists."

"Right, right," James responded. "What does Jesse always do? Um . . . wrap. Yes, Seviper, use **wrap**."

"Pikachu, dodge and use **thunderbolt**," Ash suggested as Seviper sprung towards him, this time obeying the commands of its temporary master. Pikachu dodged easily – Seviper's actions were only half-hearted as he still hadn't fully accepted James' dominion in spite of Jesse's wishes. He snake was hit sharply with a good bolt of electricity.

"Time to get rid of them, Pika," Ash suggested with an almost sinister smile. "Just a little **thundershock**."

Pikachu nodded determinedly before sending out a series of sparks to clip the villains and herd them into the trees. The pair (and Seviper) howled and screamed the whole way as the disappeared into the foliage.

Ash and co. couldn't help but smirk at how easy it was.

"I guess Jesse really is the glue that holds them together," Brock suggested thoughtfully.

Ash made to reply, but his attention was drawn away by a soft buzzing approaching them. The gang stilled, all of them knowing what the buzzing was likely to mean.

"I think we should get out of here," Brock suggested in a low whisper.

"I think so –" Ash began quietly but stopped as the creature drawing near to them suddenly appeared in their small clearing. Ash gaped at its appearance. "I _gotta_ catch that," he said determinedly.

"Ash," Brock admonished, "it's a beedrill. I hardly think it's going to add to your team."

"But its _shiny_," Ash protested. "Just look at it. It's _so_ shiny."

Brock did as he was told, quickly appraising the bright green beedrill as it neared. Like most beedrill at had two sharply pointed forelimbs and a thorax wrapped in two black stripes, but unlike most beedrill it was almost completely coloured chartreuse green. It was a sight that Brock never thought that he would see.

"It doesn't matter, Ash," Brock shrugged. "It may be green, but it's still only level twelve and can only learn four damage dealing attacks at most. What do you think Misty would say?"

"I know," Ash grinned, his first full smile in days. "That's the best part.

"_I don't care if it's green, Ash Ketchum, it's still practically lame,_" he mimicked in his best high-pitched Misty voice, posing his hands on his hips and turning his nose in the air.

Brock scoffed, kindly withholding laughter. "You better hope I don't tell her you did that." He rolled his eyes, knowing he wouldn't be stopping Ash this time.

Ash smiled and took Brock's deference as permission. For once heeding to type trumps, he tossed forth Quilava to do battle.

"Hit 'em with a **flamewheel**, Quilava," Ash suggested. The beedrill still hadn't noticed them and so was caught off-guard as a ball of flames swirled towards it and hit it back.

The bug/poison type gave them a cool glare before letting out a loud holler. Its two front pincers began to glow in readiness for some sort of attack, but Ash had Quilava act quickly with another fire attack. Flames shot from the quilled Pokémon and the beedrill was hit with a taste of Quilava's **flamethrower**, finishing it off before Ash caught the creature in a Pokéball.

"Yes!" Ash cheered, high-fiving his two Pokémon. "I can't wait to show this to Misty," he added with a grin. He briefly trailed off into a fantasy that went something like this:

_"Hey, Misty," Ash said, all deep and manly and at least six inches taller than her. Fantasy Ash was always at least six inches taller than Fantasy Misty. One day he hoped this would be true._

_"Oh hey, Ash," Fantasy Misty replied enthusiastically, smiling prettily at him._

_"I just caught a new Pokémon," he boasted._

_Fantasy Misty, unlike Real Misty, did not scold him for boasting, and instead began to stroke his ego. "Wow, Ash, you're so super incredible," she awed. "You're just so amazing catching a Pokémon. I bet it was really hard, but you're just so super awesome that you can do anything." Fantasy Misty tended to have a limited vocabulary, which Ash couldn't help but resent in some ways._

_"Nah," Fantasy Ash shrugged flippantly. "It was pretty easy. Shall I show it to you?" Fantasy Misty nodded, and so Fantasy Ash released the shiny beedrill, which in fantasy mode was twice as large as the real thing._

_"Wow, Ash, it's so awesome and incredible and you are amazingly awesome for capturing it, but it's so big and scary and you know how I feel about bugs," she said in awe. "Hold me, Ash," she begged._

_"Sure thing, dahlin'."_

"Hey, Ash, what's that noise?" Dawn asked anxiously, dragging Ash back to reality.

"Huh?" Ash replied stupidly, somewhat annoyed at his friend for dragging him away from his fantasy world. And they were just getting up to the good part too (holding generally led to kissing for Fantasy Ash and Fantasy Misty . . . among other things). He stopped and listened for a moment, paling as he noted a sound that was not unfamiliar to him. He hadn't understood it the first time he heard it, but it was one of those things that were hard to forget.

In an uncharacteristic gesture, Ash swore aloud before turning helplessly to Brock. "On a scale from 1 to 10 – one being completely unlikely, and ten being totally correct – what do you think the chances are that the beedrill I just caught was like 'the leader' of it's hive or whatever and that before I caught him, he might have alerted the rest of the swarm to the attack.

"Please say one," Ash begged before Brock could answer, cringing at the thought.

"Nine and a half," Brock answered.

"Shit," Ash swore again, glancing at the beedrill filled swarm quickly approaching him.

"Just let it go, Ash," Dawn suggested, looking anxiously between the two older boys and picking Pikachu off the ground. "Let it go and they'll leaves us alone."

"Even if I could it would never work," Ash bemoaned, knowing that the beedrill would already be with the Professor by now. "Beedrill have a thing for holding grudges."

"So what do we do?" Dawn asked, grasping Pikachu to her in fear. The electric Pokémon uttered a few words of comfort, but they did nothing to quell the frightened girl.

"Quilava, **flamethrower**," Ash suggested as the beedrill swarm moved closer. Quilava did as commanded, taking out a few of the beedrill in the lead, but more of them followed.

"Ash, there are too many of them," Brock frowned. "There's only one thing we can do-

"RUN!" they called simultaneously.

They moved quickly to escape the insects. Dawn screamed as one dived near her, forcing her to divert her course. She called to the two boys, but the beedrill were forcing them in the opposite direction, and with a swarm bearing down on her, Dawn had no choice but to keep running.

"Pikachu, what do I do?" she asked frantically, tears welling in her eyes.

"Pika," the yellow rodent suggested, pointing to a small cave barely big enough for the two of them, but enough to hid them from the swarm. She quickly followed Pikachu's advice, and crouched down low as the beedrill passed overhead, seemingly fooled by their attempt.

"Oh no," she moaned once the danger had passed. "What are going to do, Pikachu? How are we going to find Ash and Brock? I don't even know where we were going.

"Pikaachuuu," she wailed loudly, almost in tears as she clutched poor Pikachu to herself. "Nooooo."

"Fear not, screaming maiden," a voice cut in to her cries, "for I, fair maiden, am here to rescue you."

A hand was held out to her, and Dawn's eyes followed up it up a strangely dressed stocky boy posed pompously with his head held proudly to the sky. He wore a strange helmet with a set of golden antennae, and what appeared to be a leather skirt – not that Dawn was judging. Part of her suspected that she would have been better off with the beedrill.

"How Ash Ketchum could ever let anyone as beautiful as you get away from him is beyond me?" he added with a smirk.

Dawn blushed despite herself. She was such a sucker for a good compliment. "You know Ash?" she asked excitedly. The fact that this strangely dressed person creeped her out in an extreme sort of way put aside, it seemed that they might have been saved. Pikachu bristled slightly in her arms, but not for the reasons Dawn might think.

The strangely dressed boy turned to her for the first time, and his proud expression turned to one of shock and annoyance. "You're not her," he said as though Dawn understood the matter at hand and that it was all her fault. "What are you doing with Ash Ketchum's Pikachu?"

"We got separated and I was holding Pikachu at the time," she replied. "Who are you?"

"I am The Samurai," he said proudly, returning to his pompous, sky-facing pose once again. "I have travelled far and wide in search of the trainer Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town so that I may defeat him in battle. We two rival one another for the heart of a beautiful woman, and the only way that I can prove myself to her is to defeat my rival in battle.

"Hmmm . . ." he continued thoughtfully, turning to appraise Dawn. "It appears Ash Ketchum has gotten himself a new screaming wench."

Dawn huffed in indignation, jumping to her feet. She wasn't sure which she liked the least – the way he called her a 'wench', or the weird, triumphant smile that held his lips as he said it. "I am not 'Ash Ketchum's screaming wench'," she protested with narrowed eyes.

The Samurai smirked in response. "That is what the old one used to say," he answered her, "although with far less conviction.

"Come," he suggested turning his back on her. "You two are now my hostages. I will return you to Ash Ketchum in exchange for the longed for battle."

Dawn sighed, but followed along having no other way of getting back to her companions. "This is a Misty thing, isn't it?" she suggested blandly. "You do realize she's like, all madly-deeply for Ash, right? Those two are kinda-"

"Enough, screaming wench," he growled, cutting her off midsentence. "Hostages are meant to be silent."

"And here I was thinking you liked them mouthy," she muttered sarcastically to Pikachu, narrowing her eyes at the 'wench' comment again.

"Pika," Pikachu agreed, bristling once again.

"I think I'm starting to understand what you dislike so much about him," she whispered.

"Pika Pikachupi pi pika pichu. Pipikachu," he commented, gesturing to emphasise his point. He rolled his eyes with the last word suggesting his final comment was less than endearing towards the Samurai.

Dawn didn't really understand what the electric mouse had said, although she did understand that it was about Misty, which was pretty much what she had deduced anyways. She sighed lightly. "At least this will get us back to the others," she commented, hoping that it would be worth it the end. "No need to worry," she added, but without her usual conviction.

You never know, maybe this Samurai character would turn out to be a great person once you got past the whole Misty obsession. Stranger things have happened, but honestly, Dawn wouldn't be holding her breath on it.

* * *

"Seems like Pikachu and Dawn got away from the beedrill," Ash said with relief, tossing his Pokénav over to Brock so he could see the message. He had just finished calling Professor Oak who seemed very pleased with his latest acquisition, although he was unsurprised with the attack that had followed it.

"Seems that way," Brock agreed, glancing at the message and chuckling slightly. "What should we do about it?"

Ash shrugged as he began pulling things out of his bag and setting them on a small desk. He pulled out some scented writing paper, a fountain pen and a pot of ink before taking a seat.

"You do calligraphy?" Brock asked in surprise, watching as Ash carefully began writing on the page in a cursive script.

"Uh . . . yeah," Ash admitted awkwardly, glancing up from his page. "Ma made me come with her to a class. She said it was for hand-eye co-ordination."

Brock nodded seemingly understanding. "But why are you doing it?" he added, coming across the crucial question.

"I'm writing Misty a letter," he answered. "I don't want to call her 'cos she's always asking how I am and stuff, but I know she'll be mad if I don't. I'm hoping it will soften her up a bit 'cos it's all romantic and stuff."

Brock rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "That's pretty smart, Ash," he commented. "How'd you think of that?"

Ash grimaced a little. "Past experience," he suggested ominously, hoping Brock wouldn't want further elaboration. He sighed when Brock gestured for him to continue. "Um . . . about a year ago, Misty and me were fighting and I told her . . ." he trailed off, turning his eyes up as he tried to remember the exact phrase.

"I said _'allez la baise vous-meme, Misty, ou je vais le faire'_ and . . ."

He trailed off at the sceptical look that Brock gave him. Brock wasn't exactly fluent in French, but he knew well enough what certain words meant. Words such as _'la baise'_, which meant 'sex' or rather 'fuck' if I can be so crude. And words like '_je vaise'_, which meant 'I shall'. And although the grammatical structure wasn't quite right, the fact that uttered a sentence to Misty with 'fuck' on one side of her name and 'I will' on the other certainly earned Ash a raised eyebrow at least.

"It's not what you think," Ash protested lamely. "I didn't know what it meant . . . I still don't know what it means, except for a couple of words," he said blushing so brightly that anyone could guess which words he had come to understand. "Gary told me to say it to her."

Brock nodded, the last sentence explaining everything. The words were clearly something of Gary's invention, although it was difficult to tell whether it was a threat or a promise. Knowing Gary's aptitude for parsing, it was probably the later.

"The thing is, Misty DOES know what it means – she's pretty much fluent in French, you know – and whatever it was, I'm sure it was bad enough that had I said it to her in any language other than French she'd have killed me on the spot, but 'cos French is so romantic, she just smiled really sweet like and let me off the hook," Ash finished, getting to the point that he had been trying to make all along, the point being that Misty will forgive anything if you couple it with something romantic.

Even a terrible French phrase/threat/promise. One has to wonder whether she intended to hold him to his words.

"That's all fine, Ash," Brock said, understanding the point made, "but I don't think it will work in this case. She's really worried about you, that's all. And it's really no surprise given how you left."

Ash sighed. "So you're not going to let me get away with this?" he questioned hopelessly.

Brock shook his head. "Maybe she wouldn't be so worried if you had some good news to pass on. Like if you had talked to your mum or something."

"You know I can't," he protested.

"I know, Ash," Brock said comfortingly, "but I was thinking about what your dad said.

"What else am I supposed to call him?" he asked when he noticed Ash cringe.

"Point taken," the younger boy acquiesced. He still wasn't quite use to having the term 'father' thrown around, but anything else seemed wrong given it was the only term that would be correct.

"He's right, you know," Brock told him. "You never would have started your journey if you had known the truth, and I was thinking about how different it would be if you hadn't. You helped lots of people – me included. If we hadn't met, I'd probably still be in Pewter wasting my life away as a gym leader, but because you, Ash, I'm here following my dream. May would probably still be scared shitless of Pokémon," he laughed.

"I get the point," Ash sighed moodily.

"No you don't," Brock answered about to hammer it home. "Ash, who are your two best friends in the entire world?" he asked seriously. "Don't worry," he added, "I won't get upset if you don't say me."

"Myst and Pikachu, I guess," Ash shrugged with forced apathy.

"Misty and Pikachu were your first friends on your journey, Ash," Brock reminded him. "And I'd be surprised if you could really picture your life without either of them."

_'Misty especially,'_ Brock added to himself, holding back the sly smile that threatened to escape onto his lips.

"The thing is," Brock continued, "if your mum had told you the truth, you never would have started your journey and so you never would have gotten Pikachu as your partner.

"You never would have left Pallet," he said, before adding more solemnly, "and then you never would have met Misty."

Ash gaped, Brock's words sinking in heavily. A life without Pikachu? A life without Misty? It seemed like something obscure and alien. Something very, very wrong. Brock was right – he couldn't imagine his life without either of them, and quite honestly, he would rather avoid doing so if he could.

"Doesn't sound too good, is all I'm saying," Brock shrugged finally, leaving Ash in contemplation with a half-written letter to the girl he knew he couldn't live without.

He sighed once more.

Sometimes he hated it when Brock was right.

* * *

"Stop calling me that!" Dawn growled loudly.

The Samurai rolled her eyes and continued walking. "Just hurry up, screaming wench," he responded drolly. "I want to get to _my _cottage before night fall.

"That's right. _My cottage,_" he added smugly knowing for sure that Dawn wouldn't pick up on the lie. It was easy to tell she wasn't a native of Kanto and so wouldn't know about the trainer's cottages – even some of the natives didn't know.

"Where's Ash living, anyways?" he asked, an arrogant tone to his voice. "Still living with his mama in Pallet?"

"What is wrong with you?" she bemoaned, giving the Samurai a look of disdain. "Am I supposed to be impressed or something because you have a cottage? I bet its some rundown mess full of bugs and all kinds of nasties.

"I bet Misty would hate it," she added with a smirk, noting the way that the boy stiffened at the mention of his 'lady love'. "You know she just _adores_ Pallet Town. She comes to stay with Ash's _mama_ whenever she gets the chance. _Especially_ if Ash is there."

It was the Samurai's turn to growl now. Dawn smiled at the rise she was able to get out of him. She was glad that she had found a way to amuse herself as it made the Samurai's 'screaming wench' comments so much easier to ignore. With a satisfied smile she followed the Samurai to 'his cabin'.

"Now, screaming wench," he told her with a superior smile, "go make me dinner."

"Oh, that is so it," she growled lowly. "Pikachu, **thundershock**!"

Pikachu gave her a bemused sort of look. He really wasn't accustomed to following orders from anyone other than Ash or Misty, but he had never been particularly fond of the Samurai, so an attack might be justified on that account. After a quick moments thought, Pikachu decided that it was a good enough excuse and let forth a strong enough attack to knock the hapless Samurai unconscious.

"Thank you, Pikachu," Dawn said gratefully, smiling at the steaming pile of Samurai. In an uncharacteristic gesture of spite, she walked to the twitching body, and kicked it hard in the side.

"That'll teach you for calling me a wench."

* * *

"You ready, Ash?" Brock asked, tossing the Pokéball up and down in his hand.

"Sure thing," Ash replied, setting himself into a determined battle stance. "Give me your worst."

Brock nodded and tossed out his Pokémon, who appeared from the glowing red light. "Go, Happiny!"

"You can't be serious?" Ash asked, gaping at the pretty pink baby Pokémon.

"I'm proving a point," Brock shrugged. "Your move first."

"Alright, Beedrill, use **pin missile**," Ash called. The beedrill simply responded with an innocuous buzz, and a slight movement to the left. "That's fine," Ash shrugged. "That can be taught. Let's try **twinneedle**," he suggested only to get the same response from the beedrill. He sighed despondently. "**Fury attack**," he called in desperation.

Beedrill buzzed lightly and hovered on the spot.

"Oh come on!" Ash cried in outrage. "You've got to know **fury attack**. It's in your starting learn set! You don't even need to level up to learn it. Just poke one of those pointy things at it."

The beedrill slowly began to approach Happiny, forelimbs ready to do as Ash had suggested. Brock almost couldn't believe his eyes. "Happiny, **charm**," he called in response. The cute little baby Pokémon stared lovingly into the beedrill's eyes, and the bug immediately stopped its approach.

Brock almost laughed aloud before calling Happiny to perform **pound**. The beedrill was hit dead-on as Happiny bumped into the much larger insect, and was immediately KO-ed by the baby Pokémon's attack.

Ash groaned as he recalled his Pokémon. "Misty's right," he complained, "the thing is practically lame. Remind me again why I bothered catching it."

"Because it's _shiny_," Brock taunted with an 'I-told-you-so' smile curled on his lips.

"Yeah, yeah," Ash groaned. "What do you think the chances are I can trade it with a co-ordinator for something better? Maybe Drew will trade it with me so he can have a Pokémon that matches his hair?"

"I doubt it," Brock shrugged. "Maybe you can find a collector, or trick a beginner with the whole _shiny_ thing."

"Urgh," he sighed, "this is the last time I catch a Pokémon for no better reason than the fact that it will annoy my girlfriend."

"Dude, you do realize that's the first time you've referred to her as your girlfriend?"

"I know," Ash replied with a grin, "I just wanted to try it out. Felt kinda cool actually.

"Although, don't tell Misty I said that," he added hastily.

"Your secrets safe with me," Brock assured him.

"I wonder how Pikachu and Dawn are doing," Ash said thoughtfully, moving the conversation along. "I thought they would have found us already after two days."

"Me too," Brock said, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "I guess Dawn hasn't worked out yet that Pikachu can track you, or maybe he's led her in the wrong direction."

"Who knows," Ash shrugged. "They'll find us eventually. He always does," he added with a tone halfway between amusement and resentment

Brock just nodded in agreement.

* * *

"You know, sometimes I think Ash and Misty just have this incredible bond," Dawn continued in a whimsical tone, skipping along sanctimoniously beside her temporary travelling companion. Pikachu sniggered from her arms.

"It's like they were destined or something," she added. "They're just so perfect for one another that they must be soul mates or something."

"Would you please shut up, you damned screaming wench," the Samurai groaned.

"I just thought you might like hearing all about Misty," Dawn replied innocently, her lower lip trembling as she faked a look of sadness. "I was just . . . sob . . . I was just trying to be helpful."

"Oh fine," he replied, not really sure what to do with the sobbing girl.

"Oh yay!" Dawn cheered happily before adding thoughtfully, "you know, I've known Misty for awhile now, and I've never heard her talk about you.

"I mean, she talks about Ash all the time," she continued in a tone of contemplation, glancing at the Samurai's aggravated reaction as she spoke, "and I mean _all_ the time. Quite frankly, she never shuts up about him. It's 'Ash this' and 'Ash that'.

_"Ash is sooooo handsome, don't you think, Dawn?"_ she mimicked in a voice that and manner that didn't sound the slightest bit like Misty. She had to hold back a smile when she saw the Samurai's ears start to turn red. _"And he's so sweet and charming. And he's just so totally hot, and like the best at Pokémon training._

Dawn was trying her best not to snicker as she readied herself to give what would likely be the final blow. _"And Ash is _such_ a good _kisser_. He-"_

"ENOUGH!" the Samurai cried loudly, halting his step. "I cannot take a single second more of your incessant chatter!

"Please. Leave me," he begged.

Dawn pouted innocently. "You know I can't do that," she replied. "I'm lost remember."

The Samurai sighed. "Ash is that way," he responded quickly, pointing somewhere to the left of where they were heading. "His Pikachu will show you the way."

"You mean I could have found him on my own this whole time!?" Dawn gaped in outrage. She glared when he didn't respond. "Pikachu? If you wouldn't mind?"

"Pika pi pikach," the Pokémon replied with something akin in meaning to the words 'my pleasure'. He began charging up his power sacks, and moments later the Samurai was hit by the most powerful thunderbolt he could safely inflict on a human without causing permanent damage.

"Now," Dawn said, turning to Pikachu now that the annoying Samurai was out cold. "Lead the way."

* * *

"Oh hey, Dawn. You found us," Ash greeted warmly as their blue-haired friend caught up with them almost a day later. "Cool." He then turned to Pikachu and gave him a more affectionate greeting, pulling the much loved electric mouse into his arms and rubbing his cheek against the yellow fur.

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Found you?!" she exclaimed. "Did you two even care that I was gone?!"

Ash looked up, a little startled by her response. "Well, we got a message that you were safe from Dai, so we figured it was cool," he shrugged before getting back to checking that his prized Pokémon was in good health.

"Who the hell is Dai?!" she screamed.

"Daisuke?" Brock suggested. "Well, technically his name is Brian Walker but he tells everyone its Daisuke.

"Kinda weird?" he added in response to Dawn's questioning look. "Dresses like a Samurai? Always harping on about how he will defeat 'the Ash Ketchum' the next time he sees him, and telling him he needs to prepare for battle?

"Has a _major_ thing for Misty?" he finished, almost snorting at the thought.

"Really?" Ash asked, genuinely shocked by this newfound revelation. "I never noticed. Is that why he was always calling her my 'wench'?"

"I guess," Brock shrugged, "although it's kind of weird. You'd think if you liked a girl you wouldn't constantly go on about the guy she likes and how she belongs to him."

"Ha! I knew she liked me first!" Ash exclaimed joyously, pumping his fist in the air. "Pika!" Pikachu added in support, copying his master's stance.

Brock shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Ash, she didn't like you first. She just _realized_ that she liked you first," Brock explained. "There's a big difference between the two. You've liked her since you battled her the first time in Cerulean. Misty's only liked you since Lavender Town."

"What?!" Ash cried in outrage. "I didn't like her then! Well, I mean, maybe a little, but not like that and not like, you know . . . and you're completely wrong, Brock!"

"Sure I am," Brock replied drolly with a knowing smile.

Dawn huffed angrily on the spot, glaring at the two boys who had happily ignored her while they discussed the inner workings of Ash and Misty's relationship. "Excuse me!" she cut in. "Girl who was kidnapped by crazy samurai guy speaking here! I was like lost for like three days and you two don't even care," she pouted noisily.

"Well, yeah," Ash shrugged, "cos you were with Dai, and it's not like he was going to do anything with you."

"He was only holding onto you as a challenge to Ash," Brock added. "We figured if we didn't do anything then he would get the hint and set you free. Which he did, so everything worked out in the end."

"You mean you two wilfully let me be kidnapped by that crazy freak," she cried in outrage.

"Technically you weren't kidnapped," Brock countered thoughtfully. "He just happened to find you and kept you in his company. You could have escaped no sweat – Misty always did. She usually knocked him out with her mallet straight after one of those 'wench' comments."

"Or she'd run away screaming the second he tried to release one of his Pokémon," Ash added with a grin. "You know how much she hates bug Pokémon.

"I wonder if he'd be interested in my beedrill?" he added, smiling thoughtfully at the possibility. All it would take was a little white lie about green being Misty's favourite colour, and he could probably get Dai to part with his pinsir no sweat.

Brock shook his head, obviously catching on to Ash's train of thought and leaving the younger male to pout despondently.

"By the way, did he have a message or anything for us?" Ash questioned a bit more seriously.

"Just some crap about how you better watch out and something about fighting for the honour of your wench," Dawn replied flippantly.

"Did he say which wench?"

"Well, I'm assuming he meant me," Dawn replied pointedly.

"You never know," he shrugged. "Meh, doesn't matter. I hope he catches up with us soon so we can get this over and done with."

Brock shook his head. "He'll probably keep following you until Misty joins us, and then make his move. He's always trying to impress her."

"True," Ash sighed in annoyance. "He only ever tries to battle me when Misty's around. It's kind of shameful when you think about it."

"For crying out loud!" Dawn screamed, noting that the boys had completely forgotten about her once again. "What's a girl got to do to get some attention around here!?

"I swear next town I'm buying ten bottles of peroxide and dying my hair red just to see if I get a reaction," she muttered lowly under her breath. "Just so you know, you both suck!" she cried loudly. "At this point in time I would actually prefer the company of that crazy ninja guy over you two imbeciles."

"Samurai, Dawn," Brock corrected calmly. "Sa-mu-rai."

Dawn seethed quietly. "You know, sometimes, I _really_ hate you guys."

~ to be continued ~

Right, another one out the way. I suspect that Dawn (at least) is OOC and will not dispute it if pressed.

With regards to the lameness of the beedrill, it was just a thought that I had that a shiny might not be the best Pokemon to your team due to how other Pokemon might react to it. Given the look of them, they might be rejected and become anti-social and therefore difficult to bond with (attachment theory and all) or they might be treated like a god because of their obscure colouring and thus never have to do a thing for themselves in their life making them practically lame. As you can tell, the beedrill fell into the later category. Plus, what the hell is the boy thinking trying to capture a beedrill when is ultimate goal is to beat Jason who has a freakin' dragonite on his end? Really.

And yes, Brock does suddenly have the incredible ability to guess a Pokemon's level just by looking at it. He is seriously _that_ amazing.

* * *

**Extra: Foreign Tongue - Approx. 1 year ago**

"That Red is pretty cute," Gary Oak commented nonchalantly, lazing back into the plush grass of his grandfather's plantation.

"Yeah, so?" Ash responded, immediately becoming defensive. He wasn't even sure why the comment seemed to antagonize him so much (especially seeing as Gary wasn't doing anything particularly sinister for once in his life), but it immediately put him on edge.

Gary rolled his eyes. "Geez, Ash, I was just saying," Gary answered with a shrug. "Here I am, trying to extend the branch of friendship, and you're acting like I'm trying to steal your girlfriend from you."

"I am not!" Ash cried, getting more defensive with that 'girlfriend' comment. "And she's not my girlfriend. She's just a girl that's my friend, but she's not my 'girlfriend'."

Gary laughed, enjoying the rise he got so easily out of Ash. "I never said she was.

"She's awfully violent, you know?" Gary continued, returning to the same lazy tone he began with. "At least towards you. I reckon I know a way to stop her from hitting you so much, if you want a know."

Ash looked intrigued, stupidly letting his guard down.

"You listening, Ash?" Gary questioned, an almost cruel smile pulling on his lips. "This is what you need to do . . ."

. . . . .

Just two weeks later, Ash was in the middle of one of his usual fights with Misty, when it suddenly occurred to him to make use of Gary's impressive advice. He was sure it would work, and then him and Misty could be like they were the rest of the time, without all the physical violence and injury.

He took a step towards her, which shocked Misty as Gary predicted it would, causing her to go completely still and silently. Ash seemed to take that as some sort of sign of encouragement.

'So far so good,' he thought to himself as he moved even closer, leaning forward slightly so as to whisper in her ear.

"Allez la baise vous-meme, Misty," he whispered in her ear in a breathy tone. He lowered his voice to a deep hushed whisper as he uttered the last part. "Ou je vais le faire."

Then he stepped back and looked her challengingly in the eye - as Gary had told him to - and waited for her to respond accordingly.

Misty just gaped, unsure of how to respond. She searched his eyes, trying to work out if he was serious, while searching herself for what to do about it.

She was sure that she should be injuring him right about now - he had just insulted her and hit on her in the same sentence. But he had done it in French, and he had done it so sweetly and obliviously (she was pretty sure he didn't have a clue what he just said - had he known what he had just promised to do, she was sure he would be blushing and cringing, rather than smiling hopefully the way he was) that she felt quite compelled to forgive the actual meaning, and just focus on that.

And so instead of near killing the boy (as she was apt to do) she smiled at him gently, taping the side of his face with her index and middle fingers. "You better watch what you say to me, Ketchum," she warned him with a smile that would easily be recognised as flirtation by anyone else, "because next time you say something like that to me, I might just hold you to your promise."

* * *

You probably don't want to know what he said to her, but given the source, I'm sure you all realize who dodgy it is like to be - if you desperately need to know what it means, I will tell you although it is worthy of it's rating. Anyways, reviews are always welcome . . .


	5. That's What I Go To School For

**Ash: The Last Stand (History)**

So sorry I've been so long between updates. I think I have been subconsciously holding this chapter back, mostly because I think you're all going to hate it. This and the following chapter are about half OC stuff, and if any of you are like me, I can't imagine you enjoying it. I realize that like most authors, I care about my OC's more than you do so while I find this part of the story interesting and at times heart warming, you'll probably find it dull. It's ok though, if you can't be bothered with the OC's, then just skip past the italics. Or vice versa if you're 'so over Ash'.

_'Italics'_ indicate either flashback, dream sequence, or anything out of chronological/real time.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pokemon, but I'm slowly learning to deal with the fact

* * *

**Episode Title: **Out of the Blue.  
**Literally:** A thunderclap from a clear blue sky - something unexpected/without warning. A Japanese proverb.  
**Closest town/landmark: **Not really sure. The anime gets a bit sketchy between Cerulean and Viridian.  
**Distance travelled: **25km  
**Pokemon mentioned: **Five. Or six if you count 'shiny' as a separate type.  
**Number of thundershock/bolts administered: **Numerous - well into double digits for sure.  
**Number of strangely attired Misty-obsessessed weirdos knocked out by said thundershock/bolts:** Just the one, but at least twice.  
**Getting to the next town and finding that Walmart is OUT of red hair dye: **_Priceless_

_There are some things that cannot be calculated . . . well actually, theoretically speaking there aren't any things that cannot be calculated . . . oh dammit_

_

* * *

  
_

Ash: The Last Stand - That's What I Go To School For

"Hey, Brock-o?" Ash asked, glancing around them with a creased brow. "Is it just me, or does this place look familiar?"

Brock opened his mouth to speak, but Dawn cut him off. "Isn't it _supposed_ to look familiar?" she asked, eyes narrowing slightly. "I thought you had this whole thing mapped out to your original journey."

"The thing about that is," Ash admitted sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck as he was prone to do when caught in a tight spot, "we didn't exactly have a map the first time round. Well, I mean, we had a map, but not a compass. Well, actually we did have a compass, but I wasn't sure if you followed the white side or the red side . . ."

Dawn shook her head with a disappointed sigh. "I have no idea what Misty sees in you," she told him hopelessly. She tried to convince herself that they weren't lost, but failed to do so. She should have known better than to assume that Ash wasn't so dense that he would get lost in his own region on a journey he had already travelled before.

"As I was saying," Ash continued, unabated by his own stupidity, "doesn't this place look familiar to you?"

Brock surveyed the environment he was in thoughtfully. "You're right, Ash!" he exclaimed happily. "And I think I know exactly where we are. Follow me!" he called before bursting into an energetic run, racing ahead of his younger counter parts. The three of them (plus one electric mouse passenger) kept going until Brock stopped abruptly in front of a large brick building, and thus caused his companions to halt along with him.

"Wow," Dawn awed, gaping at the ivy covered building. "What on earth is that?"

Brock smiled, his eyes glinting in the sun. "Let me introduce you, Dawn," he said with a gesture to the extravagant erection before them, "to the most prestigious institute in Kanto, responsible for turning out some of the greatest minds of our generation. That, Dawn," he said, pausing for effect, "is the Pokémon Technical Institute."

Ash scoffed at the memory – they had taken down two of their so-called 'greatest minds' despite obvious type advantages, which wasn't exactly what he would call impressive. And so what if his victory had been somewhat . . . unconventional. "Geez, Brock," Ash questioned, a somewhat sarcastic note to his voice, "what's got you all excited all of a sudden?"

"He probably just wants to see pretty girls in their school uniform," Dawn answered blandly, sounding like the eleven-year-old expert that she was. She seemed to give no regard to Brock's usual marked preference for older women.

"Really, guys," Brock argued dramatically. "Mere children, that's all they are. I'm more interested in the Headmistress."

"Headmistress?" Ash asked, a sceptical eyebrow raised in Brock's direction, which was understandable given how suspiciously the older male was acting. "And who might that be?"

Brock just smiled mysteriously. "You'll see," he responded. Ash was about to question him further, but he was interrupted by the school bell echoing loudly from the building. "That's the bell," Brock commented, getting them moving once again to the grand erection that was Pokémon Tech. "C'mon."

**

* * *

BBBBBRRRRRRIIIIINNNNNNGGGGG!!!!!!**

_

* * *

March 2989_

_"That's the bell. C'mon!" Jason heard some boys comment as they immediately brought their game of soccer to an end. The four of them dropped the soccer ball on the spot, and began racing towards the building with eager smiles on their faces._

_Jason Takeru Ketchum did not match their eagerness in any manner, and immediately stopped dead on the outskirts of the school property, gazing upon the ivy covered building with a sense of uneasiness._

_"It's alright, Jase," the pink-haired man beside him said encouragingly, his silver-blue eyes full of warmth and understanding. "I know you're scared, but I promise it will all be fine."_

_Jason frowned, and the man just laughed at his expression. "I guess you don't believe me," he teased his brother-in-law, ruffling the raven black locks and thus receiving an even more pained expression from the young boy. The near two-decade age gap between them was such that they looked more like father and son than brother-in-laws, aside from the complete lack of resemblance. He was, however, the closest thing Jason had to a father at this point in time, so the impression was certainly accurate. _

_"Why do I have to go here?" he complained, looking sourly at the fancy building. He didn't want to go to some posh little prep school full of hoighty-toighty rich kids. He wanted to go to a normal school like all the other kids, and stay at home with his family, or at least what was left of it. Since his parents' death, his older sister, Rebecca, and her husband David had raised him in their small home in Vermillion, not much farther from where they now stood. "Can't I just go to regular school?" he pleaded. "In six years I'll be old enough to get my license and then you'll be rid of me."_

_"Jason, nobody's trying to get rid of you," David insisted, gently urging his brother-in-law forward. "If it was about that, we wouldn't have let you make the choice whether to board or not." Jason continued sulk in spite of the logic in David's statement. "You know me and 'Becs just want what's best for you. You're a smart kid, Jase, and a mind like yours would be wasted in public school."_

_"But why here?" the boy argued, trying to dig his heals in against the older, stronger, more determined male. "You can't make me go to this place. You know what those kids are like."_

_Jason turned his eyes pathetically on David, hoping to gain enough sympathy to get out of going to this place. The inaptly named Pokémon Technical Institute was the absolute last placed he wanted to be. There was hardly anything 'Pokémon' or 'technical' about the place, other than its name and the massive battle arena located hauntingly in the basement, but that was only for use by the upperclassmen, and it wasn't like Jason had any Pokémon to use in it anyway. Heck, it was practically illegal for him to even say the word 'Pokemon' more than twice in a sentence at his age._

_David sighed. He knew that Jason had a point. They had seen the boarders come into town every now and then, and they left a bad impression on most of the Vermillion City residents. But David had a point of his own. "Jase, this is the best place in Kanto, _and_ they offered you a full scholarship," David pointed out. "What would your parents think if we let you turn down this opportunity?"_

_Jason sighed quietly, knowing he had been beat, especially as in his attempts to argue his way out of it, David had somehow managed to push him right up to the front doors. There was no backing out of things now. He was stuck there, at least for the next seven years of his life, and there was absolutely nothing he could do about._

_David gave him another warm smile before patting him gently on the shoulder in an expression of fatherly encouragement. "Do your best, Jase," he told him warmly. "For me and Becs and your folks. Just do your best."_

_And with those last words of encouragement, Jason was alone, left to brave a new school, new people, and a new society that he knew would never fully accept him. _

* * *

Present: September 3016

A young girl about Ash's age smiled broadly at the trio as they approached the entrance, looking incredibly professional in her school uniform. "Welcome to the Pokémon Technical Institute!" she cheered excitedly, her smile even managing to brighten her eyes. "Do you have your invitation with you?"

"Uh . . . we left it at home," Ash lied, completely confused as to what the girl talking about.

"Oh, that's fine. I'll just check your names from the list," she said perkily, her smile never once leaving her face. "I take it you two are interested in enrolling your daughter?" she questioned, frowning for just a moment as she eyed Brock and Ash with a slightly disappointed look on her face.

Ash blinked in wonder. He knew that the growth spurt he'd finally had over in Sinnoh made him look a bit older than his age, but this seemed a bit beyond it. If he was lucky he could pass for eighteen, maybe nineteen, but then he'd really be pushing it. Brock looked pretty much exactly his age (twenty-one), and had even been mistaken a couple of times for being much younger than he was (usually by pretty girls trying to let him down easy and mistaking him for a teenager due to his inaptitude with the opposite sex). Finally there was Dawn, who proudly proclaimed that she looked more like an eleven and three-quarter year old than an eleven and a quarter year old, which was apparently a big deal. The point was that for Dawn to be mistaken for either his or Brock's daughter took a vast leap of the imagination involving one of them impregnating some woman when they were under the age of ten, a feat that Ash suspected was not biologically possible.

The bubbly girl seemed to notice his confusion and smiled even brighter. "Forgive me if that sounded rude," she explained, "we get a lot of same-sex couples bringing their adopted children to our institute. I guess I'm just surprised to see a couple so young already committed enough to raise a young girl between them."

There was complete silence for a moment, before all three of them started talking at once.

"We're not . . . she's not . . ."

"I'm only sixteen . . ."

"I'm eleven and a quarter goddammit! I have a mother you know!"

"I have a girlfriend! A really pretty one with hair and legs and . . . and female bits! I'll prove it if you don't believe me. I'll call her right now . . ."

"Ask Nurse Joy if you don't believe me. Ask any Nurse Joy. She'll tell you. I'm not . . ."

" . . . and another thing. Even if I didn't have a mother, like I'd want to be raise by those two fruits . . ."

"We're not fruits!"

"We're just good friends I tell you!"

"Um . . . ok," the girl cut in. "But if you guys aren't a couple," she said, gesturing to Brock and Ash flippantly, "and she's not your adopted daughter," this gesture was aimed at Dawn, "and I have no idea where the pikachu comes into this; then what are you guys doing here? This is an open school event for parents interested in enrolling their children in our programme."

"Well . . . you see . . ." Ash began awkwardly, scratching his head for an explanation.

"Whitney!" a voice cut in, drawing their attention to a burnet in a pinstriped dress suit. "Are you bothering my special guests?"

"Forgive me, Headmistress," the girl answered, bowing respectfully to the young woman that was moving towards the group. "I was just about to see if their names were on the list."

"Of course they're on the list," the headmistress replied, "didn't I just say they were my guests?"

"Of course, Headmistress," the girl bowed again.

"Good," the headmistress answered. "Now back to your post, Whitney. I'll send someone to relieve you soon."

"Thank you, Headmistress."

The headmistress watched the girl move away before turning back to our heroes with a smile that could easily be described as vindictive, if not sadistic. Her eyes immediately lighted upon Ash, and her smile curled into something that he couldn't even begin to describe. Ash couldn't help but feel like a particularly juicy piece of meat hanging in front of a starving woman.

"Well, if isn't little Ashy Ketchum and his friends," she said slowly, that strange predatory smile on her lips the whole time. "I'd ask what brought you this way, but I think that much is obvious."

"It is?" Ash asked foolishly, completely oblivious to the hidden meaning in the headmistress' words.

The headmistress, being someone who was used to having males wrapped around her finger, continued as though Ash was simply playing his part in their game. "Well to see little old me of course," she replied, glancing at him through her lashes in a gesture that had been deemed by others to be incredibly attractive. "We had this . . . connection the first time we met. I knew you'd come back to me as soon as you were worthy."

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Ash asked cluelessly, backing away from the woman. Pikachu jumped down and idly sniffed the woman in order to confirm her identity. He immediately made the Pokémon equivalent of the 'bleugh' response, and agreed with Ash's sentiment in removing himself from her as best he could.

The headmistress rolled her eyes, and laughed dramatically with her hand poised over her mouth. "Oh, Ashy, I just love it when you play hard to get," she teased, stepping closer. "You're such a tease."

"I'm not playing anything," Ash insisted desperately. "I have no idea who you are or why you know my name."

The headmistress huffed, a rather unbecoming gesture on a woman of her status. "It's Giselle. Giselle Lawrence. Like you didn't know." Ash continued to look clueless. "You," she said pointedly, "owe me a rematch."

Ash groaned at this. "Why does everybody I meet want a rematch?" he bemoaned. "I know I probably just got lucky the first time I met you, but I'm actually a fairly decent trainer these days so there's almost no point . . ." He trailed off and turned apologetically to his friends, "that sounded bad, didn't it?" he asked, looking a little embarrassed for what sounded more like arrogance than confidence.

"A little," Dawn replied, glancing at the headmistress. She had been somewhat intrigued by the exchange between the two, as well as being annoyed by the woman generally. She took an instant disliking to her out of respect for Misty, who she would message as soon as she got the chance with the details of what had occurred. "Although it was probably true," she added spitefully, narrowing her eyes at the headmistress. Nobody hit on Dawn Berlitz's friend's (or associate) boyfriend and got away with it.

Giselle rolled her eyes, blatantly ignoring Dawn as she turned her attention back to Ash. "Well, Ashy, if you don't want to battle, how about a date?" she asked with a look that probably would have enticed anyone but Ash Ketchum. "I'm more than willing to compromise," she added huskily, drawing her finger across his chest.

Ash shuddered, trying to back up further, only to find himself hard against the wall. "Uh . . . um, thanks for the offer?" he asked, forcing her hand away from him. She was making him rather uncomfortable in the process. "But I don't think my girlfriend would be too happy about it." Despite the current situation, he smiled and blushed at the thought of said girlfriend, knowing that she would probably kill this girl for even thinking about touching him.

"She doesn't have to know," Giselle answered, wearing that apparently seductive smile once again. "Unless it's her," she added, pointing at Dawn, "and if it's her . . . then wouldn't you rather a _woman_ over a girl?" she asked, posing in order to draw attention to certain womanly assets.

"I'll have you know his girlfriend is more woman than you'll ever be," Dawn growled at her, knowing that Ash was too slow to properly defend his girlfriend in this situation.

"Well at least it's not that red headed cow you brought with you last time," Giselle responded flippantly.

"Don't talk about Misty like that!" he yelled, finally getting the gist of Giselle's words. "You don't know anything about her!"

Giselle scoffed. "Then I stand by my initial statement," Giselle stated plainly. "Wouldn't you rather a woman over some tom boy, little girl?"

"I'd take Misty over you any day," he growled in response, looking disgustedly at the supposed woman who was still herself in the tail end of her teenage years.

"Headmistress," a voice suddenly called, bringing an end to the whole argument, "we need you to begin the tour."

Giselle's eyes narrowed. "Don't think this is over," she told him dramatically as she turned on her heal. She spoke her final words over her shoulder, with a sinister smile that reminded him darkly of Team Rocket. "I will have my battle, if not my date. You'll see."

Ash shuddered as he turned to his friends, raising an eyebrow at Brock in the hopes of some kind of explanation.

"I can't believe we used to like her," Brock said with a look of disgust etched on his features. "She seemed a lot more attractive the last time we came here." Clearly, despite his fascination with pretty girls, Brock was not immune to an ugly personality.

"We?" Ash questioned. "I'm not even sure who she is."

"The girl with the cubone," Brock explained with a sigh as Ash still looked at him questioningly. "The girl from Joe's picture."

"Ohh," Ash said understandingly. "I remember Joe. I think he had a thing for one of the girls who went here."

Cue sweat drop.

"But you were drooling over her picture as much as I was," Brock complained.

"What picture?" Ash asked. "The one with the triple layer megafudge chocolate mousse brownie cake in it with a molten chocolate centre?" he asked, his mouth watering so much it made it hard to get the words out. Ash would do almost anything for his dream cake; he had practically been crushing on that cake since Gary's eighth birthday when such a cake had been served.

Brock seemed appeased by Ash's account of why he was drooling over the picture, but that still left something unaccounted for. "Then why did you start drooling when we saw her in person?" Brock asked wisely.

Ash took a moment to recall the moment, forcing his mind to think of something that wasn't his beloved cake. "Well, when I saw her in person it made me think of the cake," he replied sheepishly, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. Ah yes, Pavlovian Conditioning does strike again!

Cue face fault.

"Hey guys. Check this out," Dawn cut in, gesturing towards a glass cabinet displaying various pictures under the heading 'Bring Back the Eighties – Advanced Trainers Prom '16'. At times like this she figured it was best to distract the boys before things got more insane.

"Isn't that Misty's dad?" she questioned pointing to a picture of a handsome redheaded teenager with a hand draped around a girl with silvery blue hair. She recognised him from the picture in the Cerulean City Pokémon Centre – it was a picture of the same man, only several years older posed dramatically with several of his water Pokémon. "That must be her mum," she commented, looking at the beautiful girl in the picture, "she looks almost exactly like Daisy."

This was true. The girl in the picture had wavy silver-teal hair, and emerald green eyes, but otherwise she looked pretty much exactly like Daisy Waterflower in an uncanny sort of way.

"No," Ash said, shaking his head. His eyes scanned the rest of the pictures until he spotted what he was looking for. "That's Misty's mum," he said, pointing to picture in the top right corner. The girl in this picture had a certain air that bespoke of Misty. Her white blonde hair was cropped short in a pixie bob, and she had her green eyes crossed as she pulled a face at the camera. A first place medal hung proudly around her neck, and her cheeks were flushed from the activity that won her the award. Had she had enough hair to throw it up in a side ponytail, the three of them would have sworn they were looking at a blonde version of Misty from the expression she wore at the camera alone. In all other respects, Misty was the image of her father.

"She's so cute!" Dawn gushed, thoroughly distracted from Daisy's doppelganger in the other photograph. It was no wonder Misty and her sister's were so pretty given what good breeding stock they came from.

"Hey, there's Ma," Ash called excitedly, pointing out a black and white picture of fifteen year old Delia with a picket sign calling for a ban on Pokémon testing. "I forgot she went here."

"Then how come your mum wasn't a trainer?" Dawn asked in confusion. "You guys said it was a school for entering the league without badges."

"That's just a fairly recent development in Pokemon Tech's history," Brock explained, gesturing broadly to the photographs as evidence. "Before the legal age to own Pokémon dropped down to ten, they were like any other prep school, but with special Pokémon electives, which is what made them so prestigious. I think with the trainer age dropped, they changed the curriculum in order to keep attracting students."

"Oh," Dawn replied understandingly. "Do you think they have co-ordinator classes? Mum would just love a place like this. Let's go find a tour!"

At that she began to race off in the direction that Giselle had left them, leaving the boys to chase after her. Ash took one last glance at the picture that had initially caught their attention before moving on, noting the caption with a smile.

_'Well, I'll be,'_ he thought to himself before moving on with the others to explore the prestigious institute.

* * *

_November 2989_

_"Class of 2989," the Principle called, raising his voice over the clamour of his students, "please give a round of applause for your Prom King and Queen, William Waters and Emily Flowers."_

_The students did as instructed, hooting loudly for their high school's 'it' couple, who stood politely on the stage as they received their crowns. William took his date's hand, and began leading her to the dance floor for the traditional first dance._

_"Thank you so much for inviting me, William," Emily smiled as his arms circled her small waist. _

_He returned her smile, but it hardly reached his eyes. Anyone who cared to notice would have seen that, but Emily never did. _'Catherine would_,' he thought to himself, but he knew better than to let himself dwell on such thoughts. Catherine was something he would never have, and that was just something he would have to accept sooner rather than later. He had Emily, and that was the way things were intended to be._

_"I'm glad you accepted," he lied in response, tossing her another fake smile, only this time Emily noticed._

_"I don't think either of us really want to be here," she admitted with a weak smile. "We're both just doing our duty and . . ." she trailed off, turning her eyes away guiltily. "William, there's something important I need to tell you."_

_"Hmmm," he responded almost absently, putting on a show of happiness for their audience. "What is it, Emily?"_

_Emily sighed softly, preparing herself for what she needed to say. "William, I've met somebody," she told him, keeping her voice low so no one overheard. William was a brilliant actor; he didn't even start at her revelation, but simply continued dancing as though it were nothing at all. "William, say something," she demanded desperately._

_"This is . . . unexpected," he said slowly, searching for the right word. "How long has this been going on?"_

_Emily made to answer, but in that moment the song they were dancing to, came to an end, and the students began to applaud. "I think we should take this outside," she said instead, leading him off the dance floor and towards the open balcony. She shut the doors behind them, giving them the privacy to talk openly about the situation._

_For a few moments the two stood out in the cold in an awkward silence until William let out a pressing "well?" that demanded an answer to his previous question._

_"About a year," she told him, too guilty to meet his eye. "At first it was just for fun – I just wanted one proper high school romance before it all got decided for me – but then we fell in love. He's the most important person in my life, and I'd give up anything to be with him."_

_"Who is it?" William asked dispassionately. He wasn't really sure how he was meant to feel in this moment. Yes, she was technically cheating on him. Yes, she had betrayed him. But in the end, this was almost exactly what he wanted, wasn't it?_

_"No one you know," Emily told him, as though the fact that it was an anonymous stranger somehow made it better. "A Pokémon trainer. His name's Andre Hayden."_

_"I see," was all he could muster in response._

_"William, I never meant for this to happen. You've got to know how sorry I am," Emily pleaded, looking to him for forgiveness and nothing else. The look in her eyes told him she had come to some sort of decision. She wasn't giving Andre up without a fight._

_"William. There's something else," she began, looking guiltier than ever. He didn't think that he had ever seen Emily looking so shy and submissive. "I'm pregnant."_

_William started at those two words, his composure finally breaking. It was the last thing he expected hear. He gaped, blue-green eyes widening in wonder. "How-how could you be so irresponsible?" he asked her, waiting for a response._

_"I don't know," Emily sobbed, breaking down into tears. "We were being so careful. I just don't know."_

_"It's ok, Emily," he said gently, placing an arm on her shoulder. "You know what you have to do, don't you?"_

_Emily nodded, choking back her tears. "We're leaving for Hoenn tonight," she told him, nodding to him surely. "I just thought you should know before we left._

_"I'm sorry, William. I know we had our lives together all planned out ahead of us," she said softly, "but I can't be a part of those plans. My life is with Andre now, and our child. I just hope you can all forgive me."_

_"I do, Emily," he said understandingly. "If you need more time to get away, I can make up a lie. I'll tell them we've gone somewhere – I'm sure it would make mother happy."_

_"Don't worry," she told him warmly, smiling with relief. "I don't want you caught up in my mess. You're a good man, William Waters, and someday you'll find a girl who deserves you. That is, if you haven't already," she added with a knowing wink._

_"Well, wish me luck now," she said as she began to descend the stairs down to the grounds where a young man with hair that almost looked green in the moonlight waited for his seventeen year old bride-to-be. "To think, in less than 24 hours I'll be Mrs. Emily Hayden. It was real, William."_

_He nodded, watching her walk away into the arms of her beloved. Now if only he could be so brave. But maybe this was just what he needed. For so long she had seemed just out of his reach, but with this final obstacle out of the way maybe e could finally stake a claim on the thing he wanted most._

_

* * *

_

Present: Next day

The open event at Pokémon Tech went well beyond ordinary expectations. Unlike most school recruitment events, which usually consisted of an evening or a day, this one lasted a working week. It was a five-day event that consisted of performances, a full schedule of activities and lectures, meals, and even accommodation in the dorms.

The first day had consisted of a tour of the entire grounds of the institute, and a few lessons of Pokémon Tech's prestigious history. Their guide did not fail to mention several of their famous graduates including world renown scholar Professor Samuel Oak (Class of 2971), former Cerulean City gym leader William Waters (Class of 2989), Viridian City gym leader Battista Giovanni (Class of 2985), actor Fiorello Cappucino (who was clearly much older than he made out, graduating (well, not technically) in 2999), and of course, their illustrious Headmistress, Giselle Lawrence.

Day two was a mixture of lectures and sporting activities, with an arts performance in the evening. As the day had been split into six blocks, each of our heroes picked an activity and a lecture for them to enjoy together. They were currently sitting in Ash's choice – Pokémon Evolution.

(A/N: this next bit is something I made up for one of my other fics, so please ignore the fact that it is incorrect as it bares no relevance but an excuse for Ash to leave class)

A very scholarly looking man stood at the front of the classroom droning on incessantly. "The digestive track of most bug Pokémon differs greatly from that of their evolutionary forbearers, that is, insects. The exception to this general finding is of course, spinarak and ariados who unlike most bug types, are not descended from insects, but rather arachnids. Like their genetic ancestors, both spider like Pokémon ingest their food via a complex series of enzyme reactions and –"

Ash stopped listening at that point, turning his attention instead to his best friend, who sat in the desk next to him furiously taking notes. The class was apparently very relevant to his friend's breeder career, and watching Brock take notes was an awe-inspiring experience. Thanks to having to look after his nine brothers and sisters simultaneously, Brock had developed an almost scary ability to multi-task. Brock was, thus, ambidextrous, and currently was taking notes from the speaker with his right hand, while jotting down his own relevant musings with the other. Impressive didn't even begin to describe it.

Ash sighed quietly, regretting his choice of lecture. When he'd seen the words 'Pokémon Evolution' he thought he was in for a lecture about evolution stones and happiness, and more of the same. He was not expecting this. How was he to know that when they said evolution, they meant Darwinian evolution? As in spider to spinarak, and not spinarak to ariados. He honestly didn't care the slightest about how Pokémon and animals were related, and preferred to think of them as entirely separate beings if he was going to continue his existence as a meat eater.

With a quick nod to himself, Ash slipped out of the classroom, leaving his two friends to quietly enjoy the lecture with the rest of the enthralled would-be students. It seemed that he was the only one not thoroughly taken by convergent lines of evolution in ground types and rock Pokémon. He and Pikachu happily settled themselves outside to simply wait things out until it was over.

"Ash, what are you doing here?" a voice asked, jarring him out of his relief. Ash looked up suddenly, happy to see the smiling face of Professor Oak before him.

He chuckled awkwardly at the question. "We were in the neighbourhood, and Brock reckoned we should check it out for old times sake. What about you, Professor?"

"Oh, yes," the professor nodded. "Well, I'm teaching an advance course here next semester, so I'm doing a lecture series this week on Pokémon Psychology."

"I think we're going to that after lunch," Ash replied. "Brock reckons it'll be really useful."

"I should hope so," Professor Oak answered cheerfully. "I take it you're sneaking out of class again. You haven't done that since the time your mother and I caught you skipping school when you were eight."

Ash laughed nervously. Truth was he just hadn't been _caught_ sneaking out of class since he was eight, although he had done plenty of sneaking since then. Him and Gary had simply gotten better at it over time, and because they were in different classes, no one ever suspected a thing.

"So, whose class are you skipping this time?" he asked with a nostalgic smile, thoughts of the mischief wrought upon the town of Pallet by the two little boys playing in his head.

"I think he said his name was Dr. Wegwood, although I don't think he meant it like a real doctor," Ash commented tiredly.

Professor Oak grimaced in sympathy. "That windbag," he commented dryly. "That man could put even Charles Darwin himself to sleep. I read his paper on natural selection in flying types – I barely got through four pages before I dropped off."

Ash laughed honestly this time, glad that at least somebody agreed with him. "Actually, Professor, I'm glad I bumped into you," he said suddenly, his eyes widening as he realized this was the perfect coincidence. "I've got something I was wanting to show you."

With that said, he bent down to the floor and unzipped his backpack. Reaching in, he carefully pulled an awkwardly round object wrapped in a flannel cloth. With reverence and care, he revealed the object to the professor, presenting him with an off-white egg with strange grey markings.

The professor was clearly intrigued by the object, examining it from every angle. "Where on earth did you get this, Ash?" he asked, after he had finished his preliminary inspection.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Ash admitted sheepishly. "Do you know what type it is?"

The professor shook his head. "It's not one I've ever seen before," he said knowledgeably, "although I think I know a way to find out. Come see me tomorrow in Room 104. Your class will be over soon, you better sneak back in before they notice you're gone."

"Will do, Professor," he said with a wave as he slipped back into the classroom (although not before returning the egg to his bag) with Pikachu on his shoulder. Nobody in the classroom appeared to have noticed either his exit or re-entrance, and the lecture seemed to have carried on as boring as ever.

"Alright," the lecture said as the bell rung loudly, signalling the end of the allotted time. "Class dismissed."

* * *

_November 2989: One week before prom._

**_BBBBRRRRIIIINNNNNNGGGG!!!!_**

_"Class dismissed," a much younger Dr. Samuel Oak sighed, watching his students race out the classroom seconds before the bell even rang. He knew what to expect in the periods before lunch, and simply followed their lead, making his way to the faculty longue in the hopes of snagging the last jelly donut before that darn phys ed. instructor got his hands on it._

_The students filed out of the classroom at breakneck speeds, until only two students remained._

_"Catherine! Cathy! Kitty-Cat!" a redheaded teenager cooed across the wooden desk, smiling broadly at his blonde haired, green eyed best friend who remained seated at the desk he was currently kneeling before. She did not look particularly pleased, at least if her scowling expression was anything to go by._

_"Yes, William. Willy. Bill. Will. Willi-wums?" she replied tightly, resisting the urge to return his bright expression with a smile of her own. Rather, she chose to roll her eyes sarcastically as she humoured him with his own game._

_William's grin widened as his blue-green eyes suddenly shone brighter. Catherine knew from years of experience what that look meant, but before she could take evasive action, he had swept the contents of her desk into his grasp and jumped away from her. He discarded most of his swag onto a nearby desk, but retained a large fodder of paper in his custody._

_"Oi, Will! Give that back!" she demanded, chasing after him. He just smiled sanctimoniously, easily holding the papers out of her reach. She was roughly average height at 5'6", where as William towered above her at an impressive 6'1". It really wasn't a fair match._

_"Don't you mean 'Willi-wums', my sweet little Kitty-Cathy-kins?" he asked syrupy sweet, those blue-green eyes sparkling with teasing mirth as he bent his head down to her level, while keeping the papers out of her reach._

_"What is this, Cathy? Extra-credit?" he asked sceptically as he examined his hostages. "Isn't it enough that you're graduating a year early, you have to beat the whole lot of us too?"_

_With an impressive jump, she snatched the papers from his hand, and settled herself where William had deposited her other belongings. She didn't bother answering his question, as there was really no need. They were best friends, after all, and William knew exactly why she was working so hard. _

_She had no choice in the matter. She had to work harder than everyone else. She had to excel beyond her classmates, even to the point where she had jumped a whole year of study. She had to be the perfect student – the perfect daughter – because it was the only way that she could prove to her father that a girl was just as good as a man, and prove herself worthy of the family business (which was something entirely independent of the Flowers family fortune) she should rightfully inherit as the eldest child, but for which she was to be overlooked for her younger brother. It was all she could do to make her father look past her gender and examine her ability._

_The two of them often had wagers over who was the more overbearing parent – her father, the impressive Leo Flowers, or his mother, the impassive Adelaida Waters. The competition was always a fierce one, but in the end, it was Adelaida hands down, and they both knew why this was so._

_"So are you taking Emily to the dance?" she asked suddenly, changing the topic, although not really in a round about way._

_William's mood seemed to change in an instant. He was no longer bright and teasing, becoming withdrawn and sombre, as though someone had just signed his death warrant right in front of him. He returned to his previous position, kneeling on the opposite side of her desk, answering her question with a reluctant nod. "She is my fiancée, after all," he added disdainfully._

_Catherine turned her eyes back down to her work, trying her best to hide the sadness in her gaze. "I'm sure you two will have viable offspring," she answered clinically, her voice empty of emotion. It was the nicest thing she could think to say about the prospective nuptials, and she'd rather say only a little, than lie and tell him she was happy he had made such a good match._

_He leaned over to the desk and spoke close to her ear. "So could we," he replied huskily, curling his finger around a lock of silvery blonde hair that had fallen free of her ponytail. "We would have beautiful children, Cathy, all of them girls, with your hair and my eyes. 'Cept for the youngest, she'd have my hair and your smile."_

_She looked up with a gasp, but recovered quickly, swatting his hand away. "William, you can't say things like that," she demanded, narrowing her eyes at him. "You're betrothed to my sister."_

_"Not by choice," he replied darkly. "Catherine, I know you don't want to hear this," he told her desperately, "but please hear me out. I'm in love with you. It's always been you, Cathy."_

_"And what am I supposed to do with that?" she argued back, taking to her feet. "Need I remind you, William Waters, that you are ENGAGED to my TWIN SISTER!"_

_"I don't care. I just love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Not Emily," he answered, sounding so calm she almost didn't believe it was him. "We can run away together and get married. Maybe Hoenn, I hear the legal age is only sixteen there. We could be gone in less than a week and married by next Wednesday."_

_"Will, you're being ridiculous," she answered, pleading with him to stop with his fantasy. "I can't do that to Emily. What about her? Or my family? What's your mother going to say? What's _everybody_ going to say?"_

_"I don't care about them. Dammit, Cathy! I only care about you!" he cried in frustration. "Tell me you don't love me and I'll forget we even had this conversation, but, Catherine –"_

_"You know I can't tell you that, William," she sobbed, tears welling in her eyes. "But I can't do this. Not after everything I've worked for. You have to marry Emily."_

_He sighed, knowing she wouldn't be swayed from her conviction. "Fine, Catherine, but know that even as I marry her, it will _always_ be you. I'll never stop loving you, Cathy."_

_"Me neither," she said quietly as he turned his back to leave, making his way to the classroom door._

_He glanced back, putting on a false smile and forcing cheer into his voice. "Do you want to battle later, Cathy?" he asked hopefully, trying to return things to some sort of normality. "I've got a new water Pokémon, and I know they're your favourite."_

_"Sure, Will," she replied softly. "I'll see you after school. Wait for me, 'k?"_

_"Always, Cathy. Always."_

~ to be continued ~

Hopefully all the family connections and the like are clear to everyone. Feel free to ask if you're a little confused. I could probably make a family tree if it would help. My original intention was to have one chapter at Pokemon Tech, but as you can tell, it was all getting a bit lengthy and there is still so much to go.

I suppose you'll be wanting the extra now. I figured since we had the interview to properly introduce Jason, that we should have some sort of equivalent for Misty's dad and the two candidates for Misty's mum (although I do hope you've all worked out which of the Flowers girls end up with William). So the piece below is an exert from the Pokemon Tech year book for 2989 so you can know a bit more about the three.

* * *

**Extra: I will always remember . . . Class of 2989**

_William Waters  
Age: __18 yrs  
Class: __7A  
Goal: __"Official Pokemon League Gym Leader - Water Pokemon Master"  
Activities: __Student Council President  
Soccer Captain  
Home Coming King  
Model UN  
Future Enterprisers Club  
Intra-school Pokemon Champion  
Honor Role  
Senior Mentoring Programme_

Quote: _"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted" - Albert Einstein_

I Will Remember . . . _"Pokemon battles with Catherine after school, and fighting off a fierce gang of mankee during Senior Camp. Finally beating the Gunners after ten years - go Land Sharks!"_

If I Could Change One Thing About High School . . . _"It would be you . . ."_

Most likely to . . . _be eaten in a freak Pokemon attack . . . will be the first against the wall when the revolution comes_

. . .

_Catherine Flowers  
Age: __17 yrs  
Class: __7A  
Goal: __"To change the World."  
Activities: __Student Council Secretary  
Kanto Chess Champion  
Mathlete  
Track Team  
School Record for 100m Sprint  
Valedictorian  
Organizer of Inter-school Knowledge Bowl  
Glee Club  
Honor Role  
Senior Mentoring Programme_

Quote: _"If the only way to bring about change is one mind at a time, then so be it. At least with every step there will be one less mind to change."_

I Will Remember . . ._"Kicking Will's but at almost everything :P and saving him from a wild mankee during Senior Camp. Swapping places with Em for the day just to see if anyone noticed."_

If I Could Change One Thing About High School . . . _"It wouldn't make a difference"_

Most likely to . . . _chain self to a building . . . run for office . . . require political asylum . . . will have us all against the wall when the revolution comes _(Why else do you think Will's going down first?)

. . .

_Emily Flowers  
Age: __17 yrs  
Class: __6C  
Goal: __"To be famous."  
Activities: __Cheer Squad Camptain  
Junior Prom Committee  
Home Coming Queen  
Year Book Committee  
Dance Club  
French Club  
Film Club_

Quote: _"Let these be the words for which I am remembered, and if not . . . let me be forgotten."_

I Will Remember . . . _"Winning the talent quest three years running with Tess and Nicky. Partying with the squad. Ticking Cate into a dress."_

If I Could Change One Thing About High School . . . _"It would last forever."_

Most likely to . . . _run away with a French aristocrat/Greek billionaire . . . star in a film about giant pikachus . . . have a gold statue made in their honor_


	6. EXPLANATORY NOTE: Family Tree

I had a couple of request for these so here they are. The formatting is based on my page width, so you may need to increase your page width or reduce the text size in order to view them properly.

* * *

Misty's Family Tree

Adelaida Valadimirovna Petrov =M= Theodore Kazuki Waters . . . . . Rosemary Akahana White =M= Leonard Akinobu Flowers

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l  
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l  
. . . . . . . William Theodorovich Kintaro Waters =M= Catherine Haru Flowers . . . . . . . . .l . . . . . . . . . . Emily Chinatsu Flowers = M = Andre Shuuichi Hayden  
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (Leonard) Yuki Flowers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l  
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l . . . . . . . . . . . (has two boys, but not really relevant) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .l  
. . . . . . . . . .Waterflower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .l . . . . . . .Hayden . . . . . . .  
. . . . . . . . . .l . . . . . . . . . . . . .l . . . . . . . . . l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. l . . . . . . . . . . . . l  
. . . . . . . . . .l . . . . . . . . . . . . .l . . . . . . . . . l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. l . . . . . . . . . . . . l  
. . Daisy Sakura . . . . Violet Ayame . . . Lily Botan . . . . . . Misty Kasumi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alyssa Hisaye . . . . . . . April Kalei . . . . . Andrew Shu

* * *

Ash's Family Tree

. . . . . . . . . . . . Eleanor Miya Rigby =M= Ashton James Satoshi Ketchum . . . . . . . . Daphne Sayuri Austin =M= Dr. Nigel Yoshiyuke Goodwin (M.D)  
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .l  
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .l  
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .l  
David Hiro Abrahms =M= Rebecca Miyamoto Ketchum . . . . . . . . (Jason) Jay Takeru Ketchum = (Cordelia) Delia Hanako Goodwin  
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l  
. . . . . . . . . Abrahms . l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l  
. . . . . . . . . l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l  
(Josephine) Jesse Musashi . . . . . . . . . Matthew Kazuki . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (Ashton) Ash Satoshi Ketchum (=M= Misty Kasumi Waterflower . . . eventually)

* * *

Gary's Family Tree

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . Dr. Jane Satsuki Lamarck (Ph.D) =M= Professor Samuel Yukinari Oak (M.D, Ph.D, DSc . . . among other things)  
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l  
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l  
. . . . . . . . . Shay Umeko Vlieten =M= Dominic Yamato Oak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alon Shigeru Oak =M= Rachel Himawari Strauss  
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l  
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l  
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May Satsuki Oak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gary Shigeru Oak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Daisy Nanami Oak

* * *

Other details/Trivia:

Jason and Rebecca's parents died when they were young. Rebecca was almost eighteen and already engaged to David who was twenty-six at the time. Jason was eight.

Unlike most of the characters (aside from Brock's dad cos he's Chinese - that's why they didn't give him eyes and made his skin tanner (if you compare to other Chinese characters in animes it becomes quite obvious); I also suspect Brock's womanizing ways are a bad Japanese stereotype but I have no concrete evidence) Adelaida is not a native of any of the Pokemon regions. She is of European descent, and thus has no 'traditional' name. The 'Theodorovich' in William's name is the patronymic component - this is his father's name with a masculine ending according to Russian naming convention.

Emily and Catherine's 'traditional' names refer to Summer and Spring respectively, while Yuki refers to snow/winter. Birth order goes Catherine, Emily, Yuki.

Both Ash and Misty's maternal grandmother's traditional names refer to roses.

As has been implied earlier, William, Catherine and Delia all come from well-off families while Jason's family live comfortably, but are nowhere near the same league. While the Goodwin's are rich because of enterprise, the Waters' and Flowers' would be considered old-money and are two of five prestigious families in the area which obviously includes the Oaks and Morgans among their ranks.

I'm not sure if I'll bring it up later, so I might as well tell you the sob story now. Matthew was severely autistic, though dearly loved by his family, and died a direct result of his hired caregiver's negligence. It was sad and affected everyone greatly, none more than Jesse. Matthew died when Jesse was in her first year of Pokemon Tech. Like Jay, she would have got in on a scholarship, but her brother's death resulted in her failing almost all of her exams. He was about six at the time and Ash probably a glimmer in his father's eye.

* * *

Hopefully I don't get in trouble with for publishing this, but it was requested so here it is. I don't think it gives anything away that you didn't already know (unless you missed although Drew hints and thought that somehow William and Emily were going to get together despite her having another man's baby). I even threw in Gary's as a bonus - that one probably will become relevant later. I left out Yuki's (Misty's uncle) family 'cos his is complicated and not currently relevant and may not even be relevant later. Clearly I have thought too much about these back stories.

If you still have questions, let me know, but I think that pretty much covered it.


	7. Teacher's Pet

**Ash: The Last Stand (History)**

Well this is taking its sweet time. I've just reached a difficult phase in the story which is proving itself much harder to write that anticipated. Regardless of that, I think you've all deserved an update, so an update you shall get. Again, half the chapter is OC orientated, but the Waterflower:Ketchum ratio has been flipped so instead of being 2:1 like last chapter it is now 1:2. It's only fair that both families get equal coverage.

_'Italics'_ indicate either flashback, dream sequence, or anything out of chronological/real time.

DISCLAIMER: My pikachu soft toy says the copyright belongs to Nintendo, CREATURES, GAME FREAK (yes only one of them makes use of capital and lower case letters) and something about 1995 which may be the year I was bought the toy or some other important date. Seeing as I am none of these people, I do not own Pokemon.

Hmmmm . . . . it seems Pikachu is not dryclean-able. How inconvenient.

* * *

**Episode Title: **That's What I Go to School For  
**Closest town/landmark:** Pokemon Tech  
**Distance travelled: **40km  
**Pokemon mentioned: **Five  
**Percentage of episode actually concerned with the main character: **60%. Better than expected.  
**Probability that Ash and Misty are actually related to each other to the extent that their children may be born with an extra forelimb:** I'd say pretty low, but I'm not a geneticist. Same cannot be said for other characters.  
**Level of awesomeness displayed by Brock Takeshi Slate on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being so lame I'm almost looking forward to HSM IV** **and 10 being so awesome I am now a supporter of gym/bouldershipping because Misty and/or Ash deserve to be with someone as awesome as he):** 8 - the boy may be ambidextrous, but I'm not about to give up on Pokeshipping for a few cheap party tricks. Yes Brock _is_ awesome, but not that awesome.  
**Being out bid for Ash Ketchum's affections by both a tomboyish redhead and a gourmet chocolate cake: **_Priceless_

_I guess there are just some things you can't put a value on . . . _

_

* * *

  
_

Ash: The Last Stand - Teacher's Pet

The next day Ash was skipping out of yet another poorly chosen lecture, and on his way to Room 104. In the hopes of avoiding the previous days mistake, Ash had intentionally picked a lecture that sounded ridiculously boring, using the logic that if something which had sounded interesting turned out to be dull, it must work the other way too.

'The Secret Life of Plants' was all that it promised. While Ash was secretly hoping that by plants it meant plant Pokémon and how they secretly turned into carnivorous monsters at night (a boy can dream), it was in fact a lecture about plants . . . period. It was actually a pretty useful lecture being all about how certain herbs and barks could be used to enhance training and cure Pokémon, and it probably would have been interesting if Ash hadn't already known pretty much everything the lecturer was going to say. His mother was an avid gardener, after all, and her father a doctor not above using traditional methods; as Delia's son and Nigel's grandson, Ash had known all about the different properties of every plant species native to Kanto since he was six.

Therefore, after tossing a note at Brock to let him know where he went, Ash had snuck out of class once again and decided to meet the professor early so he could finally find out the truth about the egg in his possession. He knocked on the door, waiting only a moment before Professor Oak called out for him to enter.

"Ash, what are you doing here?" the professor asked, surprise evident on his face.

Ash frowned. "Didn't we do this yesterday?"

"No, I mean right now," the professor answered with a shake of his head. "Aren't there classes on at the moment?"

"Oh, well, yeah," Ash answered sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck. It was a gesture, he had recently found out, that he had inherited from his father. "I guess I couldn't wait. I'm just that excited," he half-lied, failing to mention that it was a combination of factors that included yet another dismally boring lecture.

"Well then, right this way, Ash," the Professor offered amiably, obviously believing the lie. "I have just the thing for solving your problem."

Ash nodded as he followed Professor Oak deeper into the lab passing a myriad of strange contraptions. Eventually they stopped at a large metal machine that reminded Ash a little of the transfer devices he had seen at some of the older Pokémon Centres.

"This is the Egg-o-matic 3000," the Professor told him. "I developed it myself," he added proudly before saying lowly "with a little help I suppose."

"Cool," Ash awed. "What does it do?"

"Well it does exactly what you need it to do," the Professor replied pointedly. "It analyzes Pokémon eggs in order to determine what species they hold. It's for impatient little Pokémon trainers like yourself who cannot be bothered simply waiting for their Pokémon to hatch," he finished flippantly, a slight air of superiority in his voice, but nothing really detract from his usual friendly nature.

"I can wait," Ash said happily, turning and slowly walking away with a smile on his face.

"Ash . . . wah . . . I mean . . ." the Professor spluttered. "Ash, wait. Don't you want to know what it is?"

Ash shrugged. "Not really," he shrugged. "I mean, I don't want to accidentally go and catch a Pokémon I've already got, but it's not gonna be the end of the world if I do. I'm guessing it's rare seeing as neither of us have seen an egg like it before, so the chances of that happening are probably pretty slim."

Professor Oak sighed in exasperation. "Just hand me the egg, Ash," he said tiredly.

"Sure thing, Professor," Ash replied. As before, he carefully reached into his backpack and pulled out the egg he kept nestled in its blanket. He handed it to the Professor who placed it carefully in the machine and began fiddling with various dials.

"Now," the Professor said calmly, "it should take about three hours for the machine to analyse the egg. And then we'll know for sure what species it is."

Ash nodded, and the two of them sat down for their long wait. After a few minutes, Ash decided to break the silence. "Hey, Professor?" he asked awkwardly, the thought striking him now there was nothing else to occupy him. "How's Ma?"

He cringed as he saw the Professor's eyebrows knit together as he searched of the answer. He felt a pang of guilt hit his chest - it had been roughly two weeks since he last talked properly with his mother.

The Professor gave him a pityingly look as he finally settled on an answer. "She's doing ok, Ash," he said slowly, "missing you, but that's not unusual. I think she understands why you're mad with her." He paused for a moment, contemplating whether or not to continue, and if he did continue, how to phrase his next sentence.

"Your dad's been visiting her," he offered cautiously, watching for Ash's response. "He's come to see her almost every day."

Ash looked startled by the revelation. Jason had said he'd be near Pallet, but Ash wasn't quite prepared for the news that his parents were _socializing_. It hadn't occurred to Ash at any stage that the only reason Jason had to be in Pallet was Delia.

"You mean he's forgiven her just like that?" Ash asked spitefully, the words falling from his mouth before he had a chance to censor them. Guilt made him cringe at the harshness, but a sense of self-righteousness wouldn't let him take it back.

The Professor gave him a sympathetic look. "Ash, I've known both your parents for a very long time," Professor Oak said, "and I don't think it's really a question of forgiveness.

"Everyone makes mistakes," he said wisely, "and sometimes you've just got to accept that. Your mother never kept your existence from him. It was just . . . bad timing."

"And I'm just the product of bad timing," Ash muttered lowly. "I wish you would all stop making excuses for her," he said louder. "It doesn't change the fact that she told me he was dead when she knew full well that he wasn't."

Professor Oak looked surprised by the outburst, but only for a moment. "I'm not trying to justify what she did," he said, the tone in his voice changing and raising with every word, "but, Ash Ketchum, there is no excuse for the way you are treating your mother.

"She may understand," he continued in a softer tone, "but that doesn't stop it from breaking her heart. You have no right to be doing this to her."

Ash gaped. The Professor almost never raised his voice to him, not even on the numerous occasions Ash and Gary gave him good cause to do so. But the expression didn't last long, and in a show of pride Ash turned on his heal and left the room, letting door slam shut behind him.

Professor Oak only hoped that something he said had finally gotten through to Ash.

_

* * *

_

_March 2989_

_"Stay here," a boy with spiky auburn hair and dark eyes commanded, narrowing his eyes at Jason. He was an upperclassman at least four years older than Jason, and had been assigned as his tour guide. Jason could tell in the first five minutes of meeting Alon Oak that the only reason the older boy had offered his services was to skip class._

_Jason just nodded airily, having no reason not to do as Alon said, at least for the time being. The older boy gave him one last harsh glare before going into the nearby classroom. Jason resigned himself to patiently await Alon's return, even though he was probably the last person Jason wanted to be anywhere near._

_Alon seemed to embody everything that Pokémon Tech was about, and thus everything that Jason wanted to be as far away from as possible. It was all beauty and smiles on the outside, but inside it was cold and impersonal. He had only been there an hour, and he was already homesick._

_CRASH! CLATTER! CLANG! CLANK!_

_Jason started at the flurry of sounds. He glanced back and forth down the corridor, waiting for someone to rush towards the strange noises, but when none came he was forced to wonder if this was a usual occurrence at Pokémon Tech._

_He tried to follow Alon's instructions and stay where he was, but in the end curiosity got the better of him. With a quick glance at the classroom to make sure that the older boy wasn't returning any time soon, Jason began to creep down the hallway, closer to the source of these strange noises._

_Once at Room 104, he cautiously pushed the door open and called out to the occupants._

_"Over here," a strained voice replied. Jason rushed into the room, towards the voice. He quickly helped a middle-aged man to his feet, gaping at his appearance._

_"You're Doctor Samuel Oak," Jason gaped at him, hardly believing his eyes._

_"Yes, I suppose I am," Samuel Oak replied, dusting off his lab coat. "And you are?"_

_"I've read all your work," Jason continued, ignoring the question. The young boy was almost bouncing on the spot at this point. "I'm your biggest fan."_

_The scholar looked sceptical but smiled at the boy's enthusiasm. "That hardly seems likely. You're about eight," Sam surmised. "I have colleagues older than I am who haven't even read half of it. But I'll take the compliment all the same, despite the hyperbole."_

_"I'm ten," Jason replied darkly, however, his dampened mood instantaneously brightened not a moment later as he continued to chatter away to his idol. "I really have read them all, Doctor Oak sir. Even the one on horizontal transfer between unrelated Pokémon species, although I had to get David to help with some of the words – that's my brother-in-law, by the way. He works for Silph Co. and he always brings me your latest articles home to read."_

_"Well, that's nice, but-"_

_Jason excitedly cut him off before he could go further. "Sir, can I get you to sign my copy of 'The Expression of Emotions in Man and Pokémon'?" he asked with a hopeful smile. "The chapter on emotional contagion really interested me and I thought your use of attachment theory in your analysis of the trainer-Pokémon relationship was unmatched in its genius."_

_"Why . . . thank you?" Sam answered awkwardly as Jason held an obviously well read copy of his book out towards him. This was really the first time he had ever encountered a 'fan', and he had no idea what to do about it. "You carry my book around with you?" he asked as he took the almost three-inch thick hardback from the boy._

_Jason nodded enthusiastically. "Don't go anywhere without it," he said proudly. "I take it everywhere I go in case I have time to read a chapter or two."_

_Sam couldn't help but look a little impressed. "Who shall I make this out to?" he asked warmly._

_"Oh, right," Jason said, holding his hand out towards the man by way of overdue greeting. "Jason Ketchum, sir."_

_Sam did a double take at the sound of the name. He took a second look at the young boy, noting the familiar features he had been in search of for over twenty-five years. He noted the messy raven hair, tanned skin, an air of naivety and restless energy that seemed to be lodged in his memory, but something wasn't right. The eyes, he remembered, were brown, not blue like Jason's currently were. The name was only half right to begin with, but he could see now that he had gotten a bit ahead of himself._

_"Do you have an 'Ash' in your family?" he asked absently as he signed the book._

_Jason frowned, sadness flashing in his eyes momentarily. "Just my dad," he said quietly. "He used to teach in Pallet, so you might've know him."_

_Sam smiled weakly in return. It seemed he still wasn't quite there, although this was the closest he had come to finding him. Jason looked so like his temporally challenged friend; even the age was just about right._

'A relative?'_ he wondered as he clandestinely examined Jason Ketchum. Maybe it was his cousin or nephew or some distant relative. Sam shook his head. It could only be one thing. _'Son,'_ he thought to himself. It was the only possible answer. The two looked so alike, and it was only the eyes that were wrong._

_"So, what are you working on, Doctor Oak?" Jason asked excitedly, his eyes shining in awe. _

_"Well, I'm working on trying to disprove a theory put forward by one of my colleagues," Sam explained proudly, happy to have someone take interest in what he was doing. "An ex-pupil of mine, Nathan Elm, seems to think that Pokémon come from eggs. It's a ridiculous proposition because it would mean convergent evolution across multiple lines. The odds of that happening are almost incalculable."_

_"But isn't that true of almost our entire genetic history?" Jason suggested wisely. _"Once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."

_Sam gave a small laugh. "I see you're a fan of Arthur Conan Doyle's books too," he chuckled. "Has anyone ever told you, that you're a bit too smart for your own good?"_

_Jason grinned. "My sister tells me that all the time."_

_"Isn't there somewhere you're supposed to be?" Sam asked with a frown._

_Jason gasped at the reminder. "I was supposed to be waiting for this kid to show me to my class," he said. "He's going to be so mad when he sees I'm not there. _

_"I better go," he added as he quickly raced out the door, letting it slam shut behind him._

_Sam chuckled at the almost familiar sight. "Definitely son," he uttered before turning back to his work, wondering if maybe he should just give up on this Pokémon egg business and stick to his real passion. After all, it wasn't impossible, just highly unlikely, but it was a possibility all the same._

_Who knew? Nathan might just be right about this whole business, and it would be a shame to get into a feud with his most promising student over a few theories of evolution._

_"Must be the truth," he smiled before dumping his previous work in a nearby bin and beginning a whole new experiment that had absolutely nothing to do with Pokémon eggs. _

* * *

Present: Same day

Ash grimaced as he awkwardly held the phone to his ear, waiting for it to be answered.

_"Mime!"_ someone eventually called into the earpiece, forcing Ash to pull it away.

_"Mimey,"_ a new voice admonished, replacing the first, _"what did I tell you about answering the phone?_

_"Hello, this is Delia Ketchum. How may I help you?"_ his mother asked cheerfully.

Ash let out a small sigh of relief before answering. He was glad that she sounded happier than the last time he spoke with her. "Uh . . . hey, Ma. It's me," he replied awkwardly, inwardly cringing as he awaited her response.

_"Hey, Ashy,"_ she cooed quietly, a smile (small though it evidently was) in her voice. _"Is everything alright?"_

"Yeah, Ma . . . I . . ." he began, "I just called . . . to say . . . to apologise, Ma. I'm really sorry, Ma, I really am. I've been a really awful son these past few weeks," he admitted, his voice trembling with emotion and eyes sparkling with tears.

He heard a half-sob on the other end and silently cursed the cheap administration, who obviously hadn't though to invest in video phones. "Please don't cry, Ma," he begged quickly. "I'm so sorry. I never meant to make you cry."

_"Oh, Ash,"_ she said softly, a watery smile on her lips. _"It's ok. I understand. You don't need to apologise._

_"I shouldn't have lied to you . . . I just . . . I didn't want you to hate your father, Ashy,"_ she explained slowly, trailing off when her words seemed inadequate. _"I couldn't stand it if you hated him._

_"I always meant to explain it to you when you got older,"_ she added with a sigh, sorrow caught in her words, _"but I guess every time it came up, I simply lost the nerve to do so. I should have told you,"_ she said her voice heavy with the anger she felt towards herself. It softened as she directed words of sympathy towards her son. _"I'm so sorry, Ashy. That must have been the worst way to find out."_

"Yeah," he replied awkwardly. "A heads up would have definitely helped."

_"Thank goodness Misty was there,"_ she added, a suggestive tone in her voice that seemed to imply either wiggling eyebrows or a wink of some sorts. _"I don't know how much worse it would have been without her."_

"Ma," he complained, "we're already dating so you can quit it with the hints already. I know I'm lucky to have her."

_"Well, just don't forget to call her later and thank her,"_ Delia retorted in a strict motherly tone.

"I will, Ma. I will," he promised.

They were awkwardly silent for a few moments, before Delia decided to breach a not unrelated subject (no pun intended).

_"So have you spoken with him much?"_ she asked, the 'him' needing no elaboration.

"Just a couple of times," Ash answered. "He seems nice. Misty said he's really good with Pokémon and stuff – she even said Gyarados liked him and Gyarados pretty much hates anyone who isn't Misty."

Delia nodded even though the gesture was superfluous without the videophone to receive it. _"It's one of the many thing you two have in common,"_ she said almost wistfully. _"You're both naturals with Pokémon. He's very knowledgeable too, you know – a bit like your own walking Pokédex."_

"I'll keep it in mind," Ash told her awkwardly.

_"I'm sorry,"_ Delia gasped quickly. _"I don't mean to pressure you, honey. To see you two together would be a dream come true for me, but take your time."_

"Ok, Ma," he answered. "Professor Oak said you guys had been talking?"

_"Just a little,"_ she answered with a giggle. _"I almost forgot how charming that man could be without even trying,"_ she sighed dreamily.

Ash crinkled his nose at this. It was so strange to think of his parents that way, let alone in the same room together without the aid of a median. It was going to take him a while to get used to the whole 'alive' thing.

_"Honey, I best let you get back,"_ Delia said chirpily. _"We'll talk properly when you come to visit."_

He hummed a quiet agreement, before saying his goodbyes. "Love you, Ma," he said quickly.

_"You too, Ashy,"_ she replied softly. _"Always."_

Ash couldn't help but smile as he hung up the phone. A part of him was still mad at her for keeping things from him, but it wasn't as consuming as it had been before. Irrespective of anything else, she was his mother and he loved her for that reason alone. At the end of the conversation he felt somehow lighter, as though a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders now that things were getting on the right track.

He walked out of the school building and into the sunlight with a sense of peace as he searched for a quiet placed to sit and think. With one apology out of the way, there was only one thing for him left to ponder – how on earth was he going to tell Misty?

* * *

_March 2989_

_Jason Ketchum had always been good at finding places to think – he could name ten of them within a mile of his home alone. Thus, it didn't take him long to situate himself at the base of a tree a fair distance from the main buildings and well out of view of any faculty member who might be trolling the grounds for troublemakers._

_Troublemakers like Alon Oak. Second son of the renowned researcher Doctor Samuel Oak (whose qualifications included both a Doctor of Medicine and a Doctor of Science – the second being a prestigious honour awarded in recognition of the huge contribution he had made to the world of science) and fellow scientist Jane Oak (nee Lamarck), Alon Oak was born into a life of privilege. He was used to getting his way and doing as he pleased. What he was not used to was being pulled up by the school principled for losing the new student (a beggar-boy at that) whose test scores were so extraordinary they warranted a strong reprimanding of the boy who lost him, even if he _was_ the second son of renowned researcher Doctor Samuel Oak (who rumour had it was up for the chair at none other than the prestigious Evergreen University of Viridian and Royal Institute of Science)._

_Jason didn't even raise his head as Alon approached, flanked by his two cronies, Rudy Valentine and August Ripper. He was indifferent to their presence, not to mention thoroughly absorbed in his book. He was currently re-reading his favourite chapter of Doctor Oak's book – it somehow became _even more _thrilling now that he had met his idol in person._

_"I'm talking to you, Ketchum," Alon growled, seemingly having been trying to get Jason's attention for some time now._

_"Oh. Hi, Alon," Jason replied nonchalantly, glancing up from his book. "I'm sorry I didn't stay like you told, but you wouldn't believe who I found. Doctor Samuel Oak!" he almost gushed. "Would you believe it? _

_"Hey, isn't your last name 'Oak'?" he questioned as an afterthought. "Are you related at all? I bet it would cool to be related to Doctor Oak." Alon's two friends snickered._

_This seemed to infuriate Alon further. "You listen to me, Ketchum," Alon growled at the younger boy, "I'm gonna give you a quick schooling on how things work around here. When I tell yah to do something, you do it or face the consequences."_

_Jason narrowed his eyes, seemingly oblivious to the odds. "You're not the boss of me," he said lowly. "It's not my fault you got in trouble. Maybe if you had done a better job showing me around you wouldn't have lost me." _

_"Fine, have it your way," Alon answered, gesturing to his friends. The three of them advanced towards Jason with menacing looks on their faces, and before Jason could say anything the flunkies had him pinned down by his arms, while Alon was poised on top of him, punching a curled fist into his face._

_Jason struggled to get away, turning his face with the punch to reduce its impact. Alon smiled when he drew blood. At least he did until he was pulled away by an unknown figure, and the smirk fell form his face._

_"Alon Shigeru Oak!" a young girl cried. The slight looking girl held tightly to Alon's arm, her chocolate brown eyes flaring with anger and reddish-brown pigtails swinging in the wind. "You let that kid go right this second, or I'll-"_

_Alon shrugged her off, cutting the girl off mid-threat. "What are you going to do about it, Goodwin?" he taunted. "Hit me with your dolly?"_

_The ten-year-old girl fumed, balling her hands into fists. "Alon . . . you . . ." she cried angrily, stomping on the ground. "If you don't let him go right now, I'm gonna go get your dad. And you'll be in _big_ trouble this time, Alon. You'll probably get detention for the whole year, and your dad will ground you and make you clean up Pokémon poop 'til you're grey and old."_

_Alon flinched slightly, but brushed it off indifferently. "Please," he muttered sarcastically, flicking his eyes briefly towards the young boy and his two friends that held him down. "Good luck finding him. He's deep in one of his projects right now and could be anywhere. You're only threatening to tell my dad 'cause you know that none of the other teachers will go against me._

_"So, make your move, Goodwin," he suggested antagonizingly. "Exactly who is going to stop me?"_

_"Fine, Alon. I'll do it myself," she replied with sharp determination in her eyes._

_"You're outnumbered, little girl," August muttered from Jason's right. Rudy nodded in agreement from the left. "You can't do nothing to us."_

_"Really?" she asked with a smug smirk. "I've been taking self-defence classes all summer and I know the precise location of all five nerve junctures on the human body. _

_"Shall I show you?" she asked innocently with a wide-eyed look._

_Alon's two accomplices looked at one another, with eyes opened wide in fright before quickly shaking their heads in unison. A second later the two were off faster than the speed of light, releasing Jason from his hold._

_"Look at that," she smirked. "I guess it's just you and me now, Alon."_

_"Whatever," the Oak boy muttered in response, a scowl on his lips. "You just sucked all the fun out of it anyway._

_"You watch your back, Ketchum," Alon growled as he left, tail between his legs and chasing after his fellow bullies._

_"Silly boys," she scoffed a loud once they were out of hearing range. "There's no such thing as 'nerve junctures'."_

_She then turned to Jason, who was still lying on the ground looking up at her in awe. He had never seen anything like it before. This diminutive, ten-year-old girl had just taken on three fifteen-year-old bullies as though it was nothing. The sweet smile hardly even left her face._

_"You're new here, aren't you?" she asked him. "If you weren't you would have known not to get on Alon's bad side. Him and his buddies are the biggest bullies in the school._

_"I'm Cordelia, by the way," she told him, offering her hand. "But everyone just calls me 'Delia'. Well, sometimes they call me 'Cordie', but I _hate_ Cordie. You shouldn't call me that if you want us to be friends."_

_"I-I'm . . . uh . . . J-Jae . . ." he began, too stunned to say more as he stared at her in a stupor._

_"Well, hi, Jay. That's a cool name," she told him, starting to babble once again. "I had an uncle called Jay. Or maybe it was Ray. Actually, now that I think about it, it might have been Mike."_

_"Maybe," he said, finding his voice as she helped him to his feet. He glanced at her curiously, having never met anyone so bubbly and animated before in his life. "Actually, it's 'Jason', not 'Jay'. But you can call me Jay if you like. I wouldn't mind."_

_"I'm so sorry," she exclaimed loudly, dropping his hand and putting her own to her mouth. "That must have been really rude of me. Now I don't know what to call you at all. 'Jay' is a pretty cool, but I like 'Jason' too._

_"Oh, well," she said with a shrug of her shoulders, her mood changing from apologetic to cheerful in less than an instance. "I guess I'll decide later. Has anyone shown you around? There's not much to it, especially 'cause we're the youngest and aren't allowed anywhere._

_"Are you from around here?" she went on before he could answer. "You don't look like a local, but you're definitely not the usual flavour we get around here. Oh, you must be one of the scholarship kids," she deduced correctly._

_Jason smiled at her, knowing she wouldn't allow him to answer. He found her intriguing and immediately likeable and he was sure he would do just about anything to worm his way into Delia Goodwin's heart – if only he could get her to be quiet for a moment. When he was older he would discover the perfect means for quieting this pretty girl, but for now he would let her speak and lose himself in those dulcet tones._

_"I'm so sorry," she gaped. "I've done it again, haven't I? I'm not usually this rude, but you make me kind of nervous with the way you keep looking at me. Do I have something on my face, or something? _

_"Answer me?" she demanded with a delectable pout._

_"Will you marry me?" Jason asked in response, blurting the first thing that came to his head as she turned her questioning eyes upon him. He hardly regretted the words and knew he meant them. He knew from the first moment he met her that this was the girl he was going to marry._

_Delia looked surprised, but giggled at his sweetness. "I think I'm too young to answer a question like that," she told him with another shy giggle. "Ask me again when we're older. _

_"Do you want to be friends?" she asked him meekly, giving him a shy smile. Jason nodded, and her smile broadened – he reckoned it was the most beautiful smile he had ever seen, and he knew he wouldn't forget it for as long as he lived. Delia thrust her arm out towards him once again. "Cordelia Hanako Goodwin, at your service," she smiled warmly._

_Jason returned her smile as he took her warm hand in his own, a shudder of electricity tingling through both their bodies. "Jay," he replied, his eyes locked on hers. "Jason Takeru Ketchum."_

_

* * *

_

Present: Same day

" . . . Ketchum," a stern voice called.

"Ash, we've been looking for you everywhere," Brock continued, a look of annoyance on his features.

"Sorry, guys," Ash answered sheepishly, sending an apologetic smile at Professor Oak and his friends now gathered around him. "I guess I zoned out a little there."

"I bet," Brock laughed. "We came to tell you the thingy was done analyzing your egg. We've spent the last hour trying to find you. Have you been here this whole time?"

"Pretty much," Ash answered. "So what is it?" he asked turning to the Professor.

"That's why we've been trying to find you," Dawn answered this time. "So we can find out."

Professor Oak nodded in agreement as he began to lead them briskly back to his lab. Inside, the Egg-o-matic 3000 was gleaming in the sunlight, lights flashing in anticipation. "I think you should do the honours, Ash," he suggested, gesturing proudly to one button in particular that shone a steady green.

Almost shaking with excitement, Ash did what he was told, and pressed his finger onto the button. The machine buzzed for a moment, before spewing out screeds of paper full of analysis.

"What?" the Professor gaped as he looked through the readout. "This is all nonsense. We're going to have to do this manually," he complained as he flicked open a panel and began to type away furiously at a keypad.

The machine responded immediately, in a computerized voice that reminded them of the Pokedex voice. "Species un-known."

The Professor frowned. "It's not supposed to do that. The Egg-o-matic 3000 compiles the data from all available sources and analyzes each individual egg using six different algorithms. There is no way it can't know. Maybe we're not asking the right questions."

He typed a few more buttons and the machine spoke again. "Egg type un-known," it answered again, and the Professor responded with more furious typing. "Gender. No da-ta available."

More typing.

"In-herited stats. No da-ta available."

More typing.

"Parent un-known."

More typing.

"Weight 11lb. Height 1' 8"."

Ash could almost laugh out loud, but didn't for the sake of Professor Oak. "So all we know about it is that when it comes out it will weigh 11 pounds and be about Pikachu's size."

"Pika!" the Pokémon cheered in agreement.

"The machine must have malfunctioned," Professor Oak said decidedly. "Probably the circuit board. Nathan probably got the wires crossed."

"It's ok, Professor," Ash assured him with a carefree smile. "At least now I know not to catch anything pikachu-sized."

Professor Oak did not seem comforted by his words, but there was no chance to comment as a voice rang out over the buzzing intercom.

"Could all visitors and students please report to the battle arena," the voice commanded before turning exceedingly perky. "Ladies and gentlemen do we have a treat for you here today. Our illustrious headmistress, Giselle Lawrence, is about to face the one and only Ash Ketchum in a one-on-one Pokémon battle. Be there or be square."

Ash groaned. "There's another Ash Ketchum, right?" he asked his friends hopefully. They both shook their heads and Ash groaned again.

"Dammit," he muttered, "what use is having a girlfriend if she's not around to scare off other girls for you?"

"C'mon, Ash," Dawn suggested, eyes narrowing at the thought of the 'illustrious headmistress'. "We don't want to be late for your battle."

And with a sigh they were on their way.

* * *

_November 1989_

_"Ladies and gentlemen. Boys and girls," William called cheerfully, a wild spark in his eyes. "Here she is. The incredible – indelible – Catherine Haru Flowers!" He made his own loud cheering noises as Catherine stepped into the battle arena, one platinum blonde eyebrow raised in amusement._

_"But let us not forget her battle partner," William continued, his smile widening at her response. "He is a man as wise, as he is handsome. A man whose name strikes fear in hearts of his competitors. Men want to be him; women – especially clever ones with blonde hair and green eyes – want to _be with_ him._

_"Ladies and gentlemen," he said with a flourishing bow to the clever woman before him with blond hair and green eyes, "it is my pleasure to present to you, the one and only, William Theodovich Kintaro Waters!"_

_Catherine couldn't help but laugh when no applause was forthcoming this time and William announced her as the obvious crowd favourite. She laughed harder at the downtrodden look he wore and the silly smirk that followed it._

_"You promised to show me a new water Pokémon," Catherine said once her laughter had died down. "You better not have led me here under false pretexts, William Waters."_

_"Would I do that to you, Cathy?" he asked her with a charming smile. He reached into his school bag and pulled out a red and white object about the size of a tennis ball. "Go, Vespa!" he called as a red light shot out of the ball and a light blue creature with webbed ears and a pointed fin in the middle of it's forehead materialized. It had a long fluked tail instead of two hind legs and a mane around its neck like a frilled collar. A darker blue ridge spanned its spine, from the back of its neck right down to the tip of its tail._

_"It's adorable," Catherine cooed happily as William chuckled at her antics. Water Pokémon were the only thing that could bring out this soft side in Catherine, and he loved seeing her like that. He reckoned she would make a wonderful mother one day. "I've never seen a Pokémon like this before," she told him. "What is it?"_

_"_He_," William replied, emphasising the distinction, "is a vaporeon. Very recently discovered here in Kanto, although apparently they've known about them in Sinnoh for _ages_," he told her with a sarcastic roll of the eyes. "Discovered purely by accident. I was going to see Oak about possibly evolving my shelder and I had a water stone with me. I guess I got a little too close to one of the cages, and next thing we know . . . vaporeon."_

_"What did he evolve from?" Catherine asked excitedly, her eyes shining with intrigue._

_"Can't you tell?" he asked her with a grin. "What does it remind you of?"_

_Catherine studied it carefully for a moment. She noted the body shape, the pointed ears, the large eyes, and the sweet little nose. "It's an eeveelution," she gaped. "But everyone thought there were only two possible eeveelutions."_

_William shrugged. "I guess nobody tried a water stone," he suggested._

_"I can't believe Oak let you keep it," she awed._

_"Actually he didn't," William answered. _

_"Not like that," he continued when Catherine gave him an accusing look. "I mean, I had to go catch an eevee myself, which took forever and then Oak gave me a water stone to make up for the one I lost._

_"You ready for our battle?" he asked, once introductions and explanations had been completed. _

_Catherine nodded and tossed her own Pokémon into the ring. "Go, Drake!" she called as a blue, duck-like creature manifested before them._

_"What is it with you and that damned duck?" William complained. "Sometimes I think you love him more than me?" Catherine just poked his tongue out at him in response, happy to see him back to his normal, playful self after the day's earlier events._

_"Just make your move, Waters," she deadpanned, getting into serious battle mode._

_"Fine by me," he smiled. He decided to immediately show Catherine what his new Pokémon was made of and called for the toughest attack he'd managed to teach it. "Vespa, **blizzard**!"_

_Catherine smiled to indicate that she was impressed – at least somewhat – and responded with her own battle cry. "Drake, **substitute** and follow it up with a **hydropump**!"_

_William smiled. He had hoped that Catherine would do that. The hydropump, not the substitute – he had forgotten how long Catherine had been training Drake for (being a Flowers, or Waters, allowed for some bending of the rules when it came to owning Pokémon). Catherine had clearly understood there would be a question of type effectiveness when it came to water attacks – it was why she had called for a hydropump and not a simple water gun – but she hadn't realized that vaporeon wasn't merely resistant to water attacks, but immune. _

_Catherine looked shock when realization did strike her, but didn't let it last more than a moment. She called for **takedown** and golduck began to charge at its foe. But before he could get close enough, William called upon vaporeon's special ability and the light blue creature disappeared into a puddle of water._

_Now Catherine was really shocked, and the move had taken her completely by surprise. She didn't know what to do but command golduck to remain vigilant in case of attack._

_And attack he did. William made the call for **skullbash** and within seconds, vaporeon appeared from a puddle right behind the duck, crashing into the other creature with enough force to determine the winner of the battle._

_Catherine recalled her incapacitated Pokémon and turned to William with a challenging look. "I suppose you'll be wanting your prize now," she said tiredly as he made his way towards her._

_"Those were the terms we agreed to," he smiled charmingly, now hardly a metre away from you._

_"I don't know what I'm going to do with you, William Waters," she sighed as she draped her arms lazily around his neck and he wrapped his around her waist._

_"Marry me so you don't have to pretend to lose every time you want a kiss," he suggested smugly, that same grin never leaving his face. Catherine was ready to answer with some indignant response, but before she could he swooped down and laid his lips against hers in a heart melting kissed._

_She sighed in both happiness and defeat._

_He always did know how to shut her up._

_

* * *

_

Present: Same day

"Do we have to do this?" Ash complained as he stepped up to the podium. "It's not like I don't like battling, but I hate being forced into it. I think I might have enjoyed it if I'd had the choice, but you didn't even ask."

Giselle rolled her eyes. "I bet you thought you could just talk your way out of this, Mr. Charming," she replied snarkily. "I'm not backing down just because you're too chicken to battle me. Scared you're gonna lose, Ashy-boy?"

"Hey," Ash replied indignantly. "Only one person gets to call me that, and I don't even like it all that much when he does. Get your own nickname."

"How about a wager?" she suggested out of nowhere, that sinister smile back on her face.

"No," Brock cut in, seemingly understanding the reasons why Ash suddenly felt like a piece of meat. "Whatever you do, do not accept any sort of wager. It's just a simple, one-on-one battle. No strings. And I'll referee."

Giselle shrugged her shoulders indifferently. "Why such a killjoy, Rocky?" she asked sweetly. "Maybe if you play nice, you and I can make a wager of her own," she said with a wink.

Brock deadpanned. "That would have been so much more appealing if you had gotten my name right," he replied coolly. "I think you should call your Pokémon, Giselle."

"Fine," she responded. She tossed the ball out into the field as one of her students did the actual calling for her. "Giselle calls Marowak."

"Go, Buizel!" Ash responded, deciding on the little water otter to do the job so he could test out a couple of the TM's he'd been using. His call was not, however, accompanied by the usual markers – the sound of the Pokéball opening, the red light as the Pokémon materialized, or the battle cry as whatever creature readied itself for war. The ball remained closed. The light never came. And everyone was silent.

Ash was in shock. This sort of thing hadn't happened to him since . . . well, ever really as far as he could remember. Even when he and Charizard had been at odds, the dragon had never _not_ come out of his Pokéball. This was a first by anyone's book.

"Go, Buizel," he tried again, but once again nothing happened. "Buizel?" he asked.

"Pathetic, Ketchum," Giselle said derisively. "And here I was thinking you were finally worthy of me. This is the sort of move I'd expect from that pathetic little gym leader of yours, but I –"

She was cut off as Pokéball opened, and a ginger coloured otter sprung forth of its confines with a loud battle cry. Giselle looked unimpressed. "Really, Ashy?" she asked. "You think just because you've got the type advantaged you're going to beat my Marowak? You did, didn't you?" she asked sanctimoniously, followed by that annoying fake laugh.

"You're as stupid as your little girlfriend," she continued with narrowed eyes. "Nothing beats my Marowak. Water Pokémon are pathetic, and only someone as simple as the Cerulean gym leader would think otherwise."

Ash almost growled aloud at her comments, his hands tightening into fists by his side. But his response was nothing compared to Buizel's as the little otter seemed to flare up with anger, a fire in its eyes like never before. It began to let forth a stream of language so quickly that Ash couldn't even understand what was being said, but he definitely picked up on a reference to 'the tiny water goddess' and decided that whatever was being said was probably warranted.

"If you want to battle, Giselle," he muttered at her, "then battle. But if you're just going to stand there saying things like that about Misty when she's not even here to defend herself, then I'm going to walk away and I won't even care how it looks. Misty isn't any of the things you're saying."

"Fine, fine," Giselle replied flippantly. She nodded at Marowak and called her first move. "Morowak, **boomerang**," she called.

Ash responded with a call for **agility** to dodge the upcoming attack, and followed it with a straightforward **watergun**. Giselle responded with **substitute**, and the water attack futilely hit the decoy, leaving the real Marowak unharmed.

Giselle let out another sanctimonious laugh. "Really, Ash," she said snootily, "that's the sort of noob move I'd expect from a water trainer, not _the _Ash Ketchum. You'll have to try harder if you want to beat me."

Ash could not withhold the growl that came from throat this time. Even though she hadn't been so specific this time, it was clear to him who she meant. He had given her fair warning what one more insult would mean, and clearly she had not heeded the warning. Lifting up his Pokéball, Ash called to the otter. "Buizel, ret-"

Ash didn't get to finish, because as he spoke Buizel was seen readying itself for its most powerful, self-taught attack. The creature was surrounded in a bubble of water, more charged than Ash had ever seen it before, and with high speed the creature quickly lunged at it's foe, knocking the creature back before its trainer called call for its own move.

Giselle gaped. "That was a cheap trick, Ash Ketchum," she glowered, the humour gone from her voice. "I'll show you. Marowak, **bone rush**."

Marowak charged and attempted to strike at Buizel, but the otter evaded every attack without a single call from Ash. Buizel responded with an **ice beam** attack that Ash hadn't even had the chance to test in battle, having only obtained and instilled it about three weeks ago. The move worked even better than Ash had anticipated, almost knocking Marowak out completely.

"Marowak! Don't give up!" Giselle cried as her Pokémon wavered considerably. "We can still beat it! Use **thunderpunch**!"

The weak marowak charged up from the attack, but as he did, Buizel came in with another powerful **aqua jet**. There was no hope for the ground-type. The match was over as soon as the move hit, Buizel just as brutal as he had been in the wild and not taking defeat as an option.

Giselle returned her Pokémon, looking at Ash with a sense of awe. "How did you do that?" she gaped. "How did he know what to do without you saying a word? Am I that predictable? Did you plan this all in advance?"

Ash didn't know what to say. He wasn't even sure what had happened himself, but he knew it wasn't a good thing. He hadn't predicted her moves, or planned the battle in advance – he couldn't have known what Pokémon she would produce as he hardly even remembered who she was. Buizel had deliberately disobeyed him, and acted on his own accord. The Pokémon had been in it for blood, and had exacted his revenge against Giselle with the utmost pleasure.

It was a hollow victory to a battle he hadn't even wanted to be a part of and a match he had no right to win. He simply turned and walked away, looking helplessly at Brock for the answer to a problem he didn't know how solve.

All he knew was that he never wanted to battle like that again. It wasn't what battling was supposed to be about. It wasn't supposed to be a vendetta – it was a sport, not a war.

And if Buizel couldn't see it that way . . . he didn't know what he was supposed to do . . .

~ to be continued ~

Buizel strikes me as one of those Pokémon that could easily turn on you – the whole relationship is based on respect and dominance, so any changes to a delicately balanced relationship are going to be a problem. Ash has changed that relationship by bringing Misty into the mix and now it's all gone to hell really.

I'm not sure how I feel about the last scene with Will and Cathy. I know it looks bad that she just made out with her sister's fiancee, but I was trying to parallel it to Ash and Misty, and it really is a sweet scene . . . if you forget all the fiancee business.

For the extra - I wanted to put this in because it develops Ash and Misty's relationship to an extent (which is important even though this is mostly of the adventure genre) but it didn't really fit anywhere and is inconsistent with the chapter because in the scene with Mrs. K there are no videophone, and yet with Misty there are. Maybe he ran off to a nearby village to find one. Who knows.

* * *

**Extra: Phone call to Misty**

"Ring! Ring! Phone call! Phone call!" called a computerized voice trilled through the Cerulean gym. Four young women began a race towards their nearest phone, each of them expecting a call from some current beau. Daisy, being the oldest always seemed to win, irrespective of which sister was the closest to the phone or which the most eager for a phone call.

"Hello, this is Daisy Waterflower of the Cerulean gym," she answered cheerfully. "If you are a trainer in search of a battle, or a fan wanting an autograph, please – like – keep your message brief 'cos we're all like waiting for phone calls from the following people . . ." she took a deep before rattling off a list of fifteen names – all of them male.

"_Um . . . Daisy, it's me – Ash,"_ the caller answered anxiously. _"I think my name was on the list. I think it was somewhere 'round the middle but I'm not really sure. Is it ok if I talk to Misty anyway?"_ he asked hopefully. _"I know you're all waiting for calls, but I'd really like to talk to her."_

Daisy squealed with joy at the sound of the familiar voice. "Misty, it's your boyfriend!" she called loudly to her sister, not bothering to take the mouthpiece away from her, so that the boy on the other end was forced to pull the receiver away form his ear.

"Unless, it really is this time, I'm busy," Misty yelled back, walking into the room with a towel around her neck. She scowled at her sister, even though deep down she was secretly thrilled by the term's application. "It wasn't funny the first five times, and it isn't funny now."

Daisy just smiled and squeezed her sister's cheek as she skipped out of the room.

"Hello?" Misty asked cautiously.

"_Hey, Myst, I-"_

"Ash Ketchum!" she cried, cutting him off. "How dare you not call me for a week! I don't care how busy you are with your training; you could have at least taken the time to send me a message. You could have been dead for all I know."

_"Misty, I'm sorry,"_ he whined. _"I was gonna send you a letter, but Brock took all my paper. And I didn't want to call you 'til I sorted everything, and I . . ."_ He began to babble, skirting around the fact that he had in fact been avoiding her with a very long winded explanation of what he had been doing for the past week.

"You mean all it would have taken to get you to talk to your mother was to yell at you and tell you that you were being a moron?" Misty gaped as Ash recalled his conversation with Professor Oak and subsequently his mother.

"_I guess,"_ he shrugged with an awkward smile.

"If I had known that I would have gone with my gut and stopped trying to be all nice about things ages ago," she complained exasperatedly. "Instead I was trying to be all nice and understanding, 'cause I figured that was what a girlfriend was supposed to do in this sort of situation."

"_I wish you had_," he replied. "_That supportive girlfriend thing you were doing was starting to freak me out. I was starting to think you might have had your body possessed by an evil spirit_."

"So, we're agreed?" Misty asked, with determination in her voice. "Next time you're all moody and acting like an ass to your mother, I'm fully entitled to kick your butt and tell you to get over it whether you like it or not."

_"Well, the hugs and kisses weren't so bad either,"_ he suggested sheepishly. _"It doesn't _just_ have to be you kicking my butt."_

"I'll bear that in mind," she said with a smile. "What have you been up to? Dawn said something about some girl scamming on you."

_"Yeah, but I told her I was taken, so I think she'll leave me alone now," _he said with a proud sort of smile, beaming at her into the video screen.

"Good," she agreed. "Because you're mine now, Ash Ketchum, and there's nothing you or anyone else can do about it."

Ash returned her grin, his face almost glowing with joy. "_Honestly_," he said quietly, his eyes meaningfully meeting hers. _"I think I could be ok with that."_


	8. Leader of the Pack

**Ash: The Last Stand (History)**

Yes I know, I am a very bad updater and I suck in a general sense, but I've got writers block two chapters from now and am trying to hold chapters in reserve as a means of inspiring myself. It is not working, so you get this anyway.

In case anyone is interested, I did an edit of the Poke Sue Litmus Test in order to make it more useful - the grading system should be more in tune to failing OC's than the previous ones, and the questions have been split into sections with individuals grades so you know exactly where your OC is failing. Was sort of inspired when I spotted a fic with an outrageously Mary-Sue-ish starter.

_'Italics'_ indicate either flashback, dream sequence, or anything out of chronological/real time.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pokemon. Or the word DILF.

* * *

**Episode Title: **Teacher's Pet.  
**Closest town/landmark: **Pokemon Tech  
**Distance travelled: **None worth mentioning.  
**Pokemon mentioned: **Eleven  
**Number of times Jason Ketchum asked Cordelia Goodwin to marry him before she eventually accepted: **Three.  
**Total number of allusions made to Charles Darwin in this and the previous episode: **Four  
**Number of totally not awkward conversations with a parent and/or guardian that didn't revolve around the opposite sex: **One (Two if you count Oak as a guardian).  
**Having your honour defended not by your boyfriend (or best friend), but by his disobedient water Pokemon: **_Priceless._

_Honestly . . . didn't see that one coming . . ._

_

* * *

  
_

Ash: The Last Stand – Leader of the Pack

Ash waited patiently, listening to the dull ringing of the phone dialling out. After about the third ring it was answered by a very young Nurse Joy.

"Welcome to Pallet Town Temporary Pokémon Centre! How may I direct your call?" she greeted cheerfully over the phone, everything about her brighter and chirpier than all other Joys combined. Brock turned away indifferently; the very freshest of Joy graduates amounting to some sort of kryptonite for the young breeder.

"Um . . . hi, Nurse Joy," Ash replied awkwardly. "I'm looking for Jason Ketchum."

Apparently the league had determined that the amount of foot traffic through Pallet Town finally warranted it's own centre rather than relying on Oak and his reserve, and they were currently in the midst of setting it up. Jason was lending a hand in the set up and using the temporary centre as his home base while he was in town, mostly for the purpose of filtering calls from the league and the occasional conversation with his long lost son.

"I'm sorry, Ash. He just left about an hour ago and didn't say when he'd be back," Nurse Joy answered. Ash was glad she no longer got that dreamy look in her eye whenever Jason's name was mentioned. According to Misty, Jason was what some women would call a 'DILF', although she never explained to him exactly what a 'DILF' was (something he would be incredibly grateful for had he known). Misty – thankfully – was not among these women, being too besotted with the younger, brown-eyed version to notice for her self, but was painfully aware of the title due to her sisters' incessant chatter when Jason came to visit them at the gym.

He quickly said his goodbye to the young nurse, and dialled a far more familiar number in the Pallet area. His mother picked up after the first ring. As usually she greeted Pikachu and then her son.

"Hey, honey," she greeted him cheerfully, her smile brighter than he ever remembered seeing it before. "Is something wrong?" she asked, her mood dampening with worry. "It hasn't even been a day since you called. Nothing's happened between you and Misty, has it?" she asked, her voice rising with panic and anxiety as her mind immediately jumped to the worst possible conclusion.

"No, Ma. Everything's fine," he promised her exasperatedly. He suspected that if him and Misty ever broke up – not like he was planning to – that his mother would take it the hardest of them all. "Um . . . I'm actually looking for dad," he told her awkwardly, testing the title for the first time.

His mother's smile broadened and her eyes lit. She was clearly holding back a happy squeal of joy as she told him she'd be back in just a moment with 'your dad'.

"Hey, Ash," Jason greeted with a friendly grin as he answered the phone. "What's up?"

"Um . . . hey . . ." Ash replied, losing his nerve a little now that he was face to face with his father (or at least as face to face as you could be via video phone). "I've got a bit of a problem."

"And you thought you'd come talk to the old man about it?" Jason replied with smug knowingness, an overconfident expression on his face. This immediately fell as he pondered things further, his expression becoming almost desperate.

"It's a Pokémon thing, right?" he asked, looking positively frightened at the prospect of anything else. "It's not one of those teenage problems about girls and hormones and 'happy endings', is it? Because I don't think I'm ready for that."

Ash laughed, glad to see that Jason shared his anxiety. It was good to know that he wasn't alone in all this and that it was just as hard for Jason as it was for him. "No, it's nothing like that," Ash assured him. "I think Brock covered most of that sort of thing a while back. It's a Pokémon problem."

"Ah, good," Jason nodded, his relief obvious. "I mean, not that you have a problem, but that it's one I might actually be able to help you with. I'm not really good with girls or that sort of thing," Jason explained. "To be perfectly honest, I was a bit of a geek growing up and I have no idea what your mother even saw in me.

"But that's not really important," he finished awkwardly, waving it all away with a quick gesture. "You want some advice about that beedrill of yours, right? The green one?"

"Yeah," Ash replied. "How'd you know?"

"I was at the lab a couple of days ago, and had to save it from getting attacked by one of the starters," Jason explained. "It tried to take food from a wee squirtle and near got itself killed by a bubble attack. I was quite surprised. It barely has the resources to defend itself, let alone do battle."

"Well that saves me having to explain it to you," Ash shrugged. He decided there was no need to mention the thing being completely knocked out by Brock's happiny.

Jason nodded solemnly. "You're always taking a bit of a risk with shiny Pokémon," he intoned. "There could be nothing in it, or it could make all the difference. Although I don't think I've ever seen them quite at the extreme of your beedrill."

"I just really don't know what to do with him," he sighed, hoping his father would have an answer. Jason was after all _the _Pokémon Master and therefore the most respected trainer in the whole of Kanto. If anybody would know what to do with a problem Pokémon, it should be Jason.

Jason looked thoughtful for a moment as he considered the options. They both knew that beedrill could not be left at the lab with the other Pokémon, but while it was on Ash's belt it was taking up a vital place in his team, meaning Ash had to switch up his Pokémon on an almost daily basis in order to be fully prepared for any occasion. Ash was torn between doing right by this Pokémon and his own personal goals.

"Where abouts are you guys right now?" Jason asked, after a moments thought.

"We've just stopped in Cardinal Shire," Ash answered. "We should be in Vermillion in about two days, and then we're hoping to get a boat at the end of next week."

Jason frowned. "I don't suppose you have the time to head back to a place called Gamboge?" he asked. "It's back towards Saffron – about a day and half from where you are – but it could be worth your while.

"There's this big collector community, and they hold semi-annual . . . well . . ." Jason trailed off as he searched his mind for the correct word. "I guess you could call them like 'swap meets'," he finally suggested. "They trade Pokémon, usually based on their aesthetic qualities rather than skill or a ability."

Ash's brow furrowed, not really understanding the significance of these trades. Jason immediately understood the look, recognising his own confused expression in another. "I know it doesn't sound like it will help, but believe me it's the perfect place for you to go," he continued, his voice confident and assuring. "These collector guys usually have some pretty strong Pokémon on them – I mean, obviously it's an expensive hobby and these guys are willing to spend the money to out compete one another."

"So they just 'collect' shinies and what-not?" Ash asked, concern flashing in his eyes. So far it didn't sound much better than his current options.

"It's a bit more than that," Jason said, shaking his head. "They show them at . . . I guess they're a bit like Pokémon beauty pageants.

"Don't worry, Ash," he said, seeming to understand the deeper meaning of his son's question. "Beedrill would be getting the best possible care. It would have groomers, walkers, nutritionists, stylists and personal trainers. You could only dream of livin' as good."

Ash considered the lifestyle Jason was describing. It was evident that the bug Pokémon needed constant care, and that was exactly what any collector worth his muster would offer. Although, Ash did have one other matter concerning him.

"But won't they know I'm just trying to get rid of it?" he asked, his brows narrowing once again. "Why would they bother offering a good Pokémon when they know I'll part with beedrill for a rattatta?"

"They'll know," Jason agreed, "but I assure you you'll get something good out of this. The only reason they even train their Pokémon is to attract trainers like your self. It's more like an auction than a bargaining process. There will be several collectors wanting your beedrill – I can think of at least two of them that are going to be _very_ interested in that bug of yours – and they're going to want to offer you the sweetest deal possible to out bid the next guy."

Ash nodded thoughtfully. "Hey . . . uh . . . thanks for your help," he finished awkwardly, scratching the back of his head as he forced a grin in Jason's direction. "I . . . well, yeah. Thanks."

"No problem," Jason replied, the same awkward grin crossing his own features. "It was good to hear from you, Ash," he added sincerely, a certain shyness over taking him.

"You too," Ash nodded, a little surprised that he actually meant it. It was kind of nice talking with Jason, and not just because he was – as his mother had recommended – a fountain of knowledge when it came to all things Pokémon. Despite a few awkward moments, he found that he could talk quite comfortably with Jason in the same way that he could with Brock, or Misty, or his mother.

"I'll see you 'round," he finished by way of goodbye, raising his hand in a quick wave. "Tell Ma bye for me."

"Will do, Ash," Jason responded with a salute. "See you, kid."

Ash grinned as he returned to his two friends who were sitting on a bench nearby.

"What did he say?" Brock asked, glancing up from his breeder magazine.

"He said I should trade it with a collector," Ash replied, falling into the seat beside his friend. Brock nodded, suspecting as much.

"Well that's all fine and good to say," Dawn pouted, "but where on earth are we going to find a collector, especially one that's interested in your useless bug."

Ash couldn't help but snigger at her comment. "You know you sounded just like Misty when you said that," he mused.

"She does have a point," Brock commented thoughtfully. "Did he have someone in particular in mind?"

"Not exactly," Ash replied awkwardly. "There's this meeting thing happening where all the collectors come to swap Pokémon and stuff, and he reckons we should check it out."

Brock frowned, seeming to sense reluctance in Ash. "Where is it?" he asked, assuming that the date would be current.

"Gamboge," Ash winced.

"That's the opposite direction, Ash," Brock answered, a question of sorts implied in his words. Despite it's implication, he voiced it aloud a moment later. "Are you sure you want to do this, Ash?"

"It's only a day and half," he pleaded, trying to rationalize his decision. "We can probably do it in less. I know we'll be cutting it a bit close, Brock, but . . ."

Brock just gave a relenting sigh and dutifully agreed. "Did you manage to talk to him about your 'other' problem?" he asked pensively.

"No and it's not a problem," Ash responded quickly. "Buizel just needs to cool down for a bit, that's all. Can we not talk about this?" he pleaded.

"Ash, you know it's bigger than that," Brock responded, giving the younger male a knowing look. "We were all there at that battle with Giselle."

"I know, but it's nothing that I haven't been through before," Ash said, forcing a cheerful smile onto his face. "I just have to earn his respect like I did with Charizard."

"It looked like more than that to me," Dawn commented, lazily glancing at her nails. "If you asked me, I'd say Buizel had been hit by the green-eyed monster."

Brock and Ash both turned in her direction. Brock looked surprised that Dawn had been able to deduce the situation so quickly. Ash on the other hand looked confused, not understanding the deeper meaning in her words.

"What?" he questioned. "What would Buizel be jealous about?"

"Technically, he's envious," Dawn corrected, "and it's not so much a what as a who?"

The boy's brow creased further as he began to understand the implication. "You're saying Buizel is envious of me?" he questioned, confusion still evident on his face. "What did I do?"

Before Dawn could offer the customary crass response, Brock cut in with a more informative response – he tended to think it was often best to let Ash work these things out for himself, even if it did seem to take longer. "You took something that Buizel wanted," he explained vaguely, "or rather someone. You have a . . . eh . . . shared interest," he finished euphemistically.

Ash let a low scoff and rolled his eyes at whatever Brock was getting at. "What? Like we're after the same 'gal' or something," he chuckled, expecting the others to join in with his jest.

"Precisely," Brock nodded, his surprise not even registering on his face. He hadn't expected Ash to stumble across it so quickly, but he did suppose Ash was becoming acutely more aware when it came to these relationship type things.

Ash sighed exasperatedly. "So Buizel likes Bayleef," he incorrectly concluded. "But they're not even in the same egg group," he complained.

Try as she might, Dawn couldn't help but laugh at his expression. If he was getting so worked up over egg groups, she wondered what his response would be when the divergence became a question of kingdom. "Try species," she laughed, drawing the bewildered attention of Ash.

She sighed when she realized she would have to explain her comment. "Ash, can't you see?" she complained. "Buizel is in love with Misty, and now he's mad because you got the girl. You've thrown off the entire dynamic of your relationship."

Brock nodded in agreement. "In Buizel's eyes he's been passed over for a sub-ordinate," Brock elaborated due to a slight inaccuracy in Dawn's statement. It wasn't love exactly - more like admiration - and although Misty was to a degree the cause of the problem, it's real source lay between Ash and Buizel. "Buizel is the alpha and his potential mate has just ignored him in order to pursue some no good beta male – that's you oh 'hatted-one'."

"So all this . . . is what?" Ash asked exasperatedly. "He's trying to win Misty from me?"

"No," Brock replied with a shake of his head. "He's reasserting his dominion over you. The Giselle thing was just Buizel defending Misty's honour, because you – the subordinate male – were incapable of doing so, but the real problem is dominance. He's trying to prove that he's still the alpha male despite you being preferred by the potential mate."

"Please stop referring to Misty as a 'potential mate'," Ash pleaded with a grimace. "It creeps me out."

Brock sent him a sardonic look that seemed to say: 'til you come up with something better, were going with mate. "I hope you see now why I wanted you to bring this up with your dad," he said in a parental type tone.

"No it's fine," Ash replied, "I know exactly what to do."

"Really?" Dawn asked with a bemused look.

"Really," Ash confirmed. "I never bet Buizel; Dawn did, but I never. That's why he's the alpha and I'm the beta thing. I mean, you said it's all about dominance hierarchies and that's how it works in the wild." He looked to Brock who seemed to nod in agreement. "So if we battle and I win, then I'll be the dominant and Buizel will be the subordinate."

"I guess that all makes sense," Brock conceded, although somewhat reluctantly. "What? Are you going to do it now?" he added as he saw Ash reach for a Pokéball from his belt.

"Well, yeah," Ash responded as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "There's no time like the present. Can you referee?" Brock just sighed and nodded painfully.

"Alright, Buizel," Ash called as he tossed the Pokéball into the air. "I challenge you to a Pokémon battle."

"Buizel," the Pokémon replied as it materialized before them. Buizel gave Ash a cool, challenging stare before moving his limbs into a position reminiscent of a Chinese martial artist. The otter like Pokémon seemed to understand the full implications of their battle and was happy to oblige.

Ash too understood the implications of their battle, which is why he took a moment to consider his options before sending his choice of Pokémon out to battle. There were two real options – Pikachu or Bulbasaur both of which were strong and would have an advantage against Buizel.

"Pika?" his most trusted Pokémon questioned beside him.

He gave the yellow Pokémon an apologetic look. "Don't take this the wrong way, Pik, but I'm gonna send Bulbasaur," he told Pikachu. "It's only because you and Buizel have done too much training against each other."

"Pika," Pikachu agreed, understanding the reasons behind Ash's strategy. Their current situation was not one that a trainer ever prepared for. It made sense for Ash to use a Pokémon that Buizel was less familiar with – Pikachu and Buizel had battled enough time that both Pokémon were familiar with each other's skill set, where as Buizel had very rarely battled against Bulbasaur giving Ash an element of surprise in his favour.

He tossed the Pokéball containing Bulbasaur out into the field, and the vegetative monster appeared with a determined "bulba". Bulbasaur would likely be the favourite in the match – he had both a type and level advantage and so the only thing that Ash really needed to be watching out for were Buizel's ice attacks. The attacks were still only in the early stages of development, so they had lower accuracy and power for now. Buizel needed his opponent to be close range to do real damage, and so Ash would keep Bulbasaur as far away as possible.

Buizel made first move – an **aqua jet** as Ash had expected. Bulbasaur dodged on command and responded with a **razor leaf** that cut at the water type who attempted to jump over the attack. The bulk of the leaves missed, but enough hit to do some damage. Ash followed it with a call for **vine whip**, which Buizel dodged easily with **agility**.

Ash called for another **razor leaf** attack as this had a better chance of hitting the agile otter. Again Buizel dodged the majority of projectiles, but not all. Buizel responded with a **quick attack** that glanced Bulbasaur, throwing the monster off balance. Now that he was close enough to do justice to the attack, Buizel used **ice beam**. Ash pre-emptively hit Buizel with **leech seed** and so although Bulbasaur was hit close range by the ice attack, this was offset by the benefits of leech side.

It was clear to Ash now what he needed to do to win. While Buizel was distracted by Bulbasaur's previous attack, he called for Bulbasaur to use **sleep powder**. The sea weasel seemed to slow as the sleep powder took effect, and this gave Ash the chance to prepare for his final attack. He called for Bulbasaur to start powering up a **solar beam**, and when the time came for it to be deployed, Buizel was unable to doge due to his retarded state.

As Buizel struggled to pull himself back to his feet Brock called the match. "Buizel is unable to battle," he said neutrally, "match goes to Ash."

Ash recalled Bulbasaur, commending the grass Pokémon on a job well done. He moved towards Buizel, offering an oran berry by way of peace offering. Unknown to Ash, the water type did not see his action in the same light. For Buizel it was seen as a test – a drawing of the lines of their relationship and to take the berry would amount to an act of submission to the dominant male.

But Buizel now knew his place and did so with a bow towards his master – for that is what he would be now. No other title would suffice. He took the berry and returned himself to his Pokéball until the next time his master would call him to serve.

As Ash observed Buizel's behaviour, he couldn't help but feel that he had just lost something very important, and could not begin to understand why or how he could find it again. And so without further introspection, he turned to his two friends, forcing a carefree expression onto his face, and began the short journey to Gamboge in the hopes of solving at least one of his Pokémon plights.

And if nothing else, at least he was heading in the right direction.

~ to be continued ~

Uggh, I think I just made things incredibly complicated. I was a bit unsure of this move for a long time, but I think I've come to terms with what I want to do with it. The relationship there is very complex, and I don't even think I managed to explain it properly at any point there so if you are confused by it, that is probably my fault.

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this chapter. I think the pace is all wrong - it starts out nice and easy and then it suddenly jumps to full speed at the end and I just couldn't work out how to get them to sync. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think so.

Well, let me know what you think of it.

The extra we can say dates back to Arc one (perhaps while Dawn and Misty were waiting for Ash on his birthday). It doesn't fit in chronologically anywhere, but was really just something to amuse me and a bit of nostalgia. Who else remembers MASH (not the TV show)? Christ, I think I just showed my age.

* * *

**Extra: MASH**

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M . . . . A . . . . S . . . . (H)

Gary O. (x) . . . . . . . . . . (Orange Islands) . . . . . . . . . . . Ice Cream Parlor (x) . . . . . . . . . Private Helicopter (x)

Brock S. (x) . . . . . . . . . .Kanto (x) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(Runway Model) . . . . . . . . . . . . Bus (x)

Lance (x) . . . . . . . . . . . Sinnnoh (x) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Top Executive (x) . . . . . . . . . . . (Pidgeotto)

(Ash K.) . . . . . . . . . . . . Jhoto (x) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Stay-at-Home Mom (x) . . . . . . .Sports Car (x)

Gideon V. (x) . . . . . . . . .Mirage Kingodom (x) . . . . . . . . .Secret Agent (x) . . . . . . . . . . . . Segway (x)

* * *

"Seriously, Dawn," Misty complained as the blue haired pre-teen leaned diligently over the piece of paper. "Don't you think I'm a little old for this?"

"You're never too old for MASH!" Dawn proclaimed happily. "Done!"

She turned around and hand the piece of paper to Misty, who stared at it with a creased brow. "Remind me again what this all means," she said almost tiredly. "I haven't done these things since I was ten."

Dawn pouted, but obligingly took the piece of paper from Misty and explained the results. "It means you are going to marry Ash and you'll live together in a haunted house after your honeymoon in the Orange Islands. You'll work as a runway model and travel by Pidgeotto and have 5 kids," Dawn said as her finger darted around the page. "It's very straightforward," she added in a haughty tone.

"Yeah, yeah, but why'd you put Brock and Gary on there?" Misty asked, pulling a slightly disgusted face. "Brock's like my brother and Gary is . . . well Gary."

Dawn shrugged in response. "You can't always get what you want, Misty," she replied in a rather dignified tone. "And it'd be outright cheating to just write Ash five times.

"Don't worry," she added in a reassuring tone. "I did the math before I started, just to be safe."

Perhaps many years later when she _was_ married to Ash and honeymooning in the Orange Islands (although perhaps not a Pidgeotto riding runway model) it would occur to her that 'the MASH' had been right all along. But that was very far off in the future. For now her thoughts were on destroying that little piece of paper, and possibly getting revenge on all those responsible for it . . . starting with Dawn Berlitz.


	9. To Bee Or Not To Bee

**Ash: The Last Stand (History)**

This is terrible, like more terrible than usual. I blame Brock. Yup. And that's why he's not nearly as awesome as his awesomeness potential perceives him to be - he's like theoretically awesome in the same way that Dave Grohl is theoretically hot. It's because of Brock that I'm sort of stuck right now on this story and if he wasn't so theoretically awesome, this wouldn't be a problem.

Aside from that, I'm about a month out from my exams so I'll be in recluse mode for a bit. It means this'll be the last update for awhile, although I might come through with the occasional one-shot if the mood suddenly strikes me. I get the strangest feeling I should be dodging virtual pieces of fruit right now . . .

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pokemon. Or a 'Clockwork Orange'.

* * *

**Episode Title: **Leader of the Pack

**Closest town/landmark: **Vermillion City - Cardinal Shire  
**Distance travelled: **30km  
**Pokemon mentioned: **Nine  
**Spectral difference between Gamboge and Cardinal Red: **20-50nm - a pigeon would know.  
**Approximate time in days it would take to travel from Cardinal to Gamboge, then back to Vermillion, beat Lt. Surge and travel by boat to Pallet: **Twelve  
**Approximate time in days from deadline to arrive in Pallet: **Thirteen - it'll be close, but totally do-able.  
**Ways this episode could have 'gone down' that wouldn't result in destroying the delicate balance that exists between a trainer and his Pokemon:** Two, at least.  
**Having your rare flash of brilliance act as a dramatic forewarning for impending doom: **_Priceless_

_Ouch._

_

* * *

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Ash: The Last Stand – To Bee or Not to Bee

"Are yous thinkin' wot I'm thinkin', Jimmy?" Meowth asked, glancing over at his partner in crime with a broad smile that showed his teeth.

"I think so, Meowth," James replied seriously, "but where are we going to get that much chocolate on such short notice." (A/N: Narf!)

Meowth would have growled aloud if he weren't so unwilling to debase himself to the level of a mere canine. Instead he pulled out a paper fan and slammed hard on top of James' head.

"Oooo," James sobbed happily. "It's just like old times."

"Shut up, yous," Meowth demanded. "As I wos sayin', I think we shud follow dems twoirps to Gamboge and check out dis loittle collectors doo ouirselves. You wit' me, Jimmy-boy?"

"No, I don't want to," James protested sullenly in response. "I don't want to do anything but sit here and work out how to get four hundred kilograms of milk chocolate to the same place at the same time."

"Oi, Jimmy, we has a job to do and dat don't involve no four hundred kilos of choc'late, alrioight?" the Pokémon responded in a commanding tone. James just crossed his arms over his chest like a petulant child. "Fine, Jimmy, we'll vote," he conceded.

"All those for doing nothing say 'ay'," James said, quickly following it with an almost assertive 'ay'.

"An' all dose who want ta go ta Gamboge and steal loads a rare Pokemons stand poirfectly still an' don't say nuthin'," Meowth responded. The bipedal Pokémon stretched out his arms, and held the position for a good thirty seconds before James was forced to concede to the majority.

"Why does she always agree with you?" James complained, glaring at a redheaded cardboard cut-out with piercing blue eyes. "I miss the old Jesse," he finished, almost wailing out loud.

"De old Jesse still would a' had us followin' de brats ta Gamboge," Meowth pointed out, giving James a tired look.

"I know," James agreed, "but she did it with such finesse."

Meowth almost face faulted at James' stupidity. He sure hoped Jesse would be getting back soon, because he didn't think he could take much more of this.

He suddenly found himself with a newfound admiration for Josephine Musashi Abrahms that could be explained in just one word:

_James._

* * *

"Wow, look at this place," Ash gaped as the four of them strolled around the Gamboge Convention Centre. For such a no name town, Gamboge's convention centre was positively huge and filled with booths and people showing off their rare Pokémon.

"Look at that!" Dawn cried excitedly as she pointed in the direction of a booth dedicated to a teal coloured piplup. Dawn cooed with joy and was only halted from running off to get a better look by Brock's hand on her shoulder.

"Dawn, we've got to stick together," he said in the fatherly tone he tended to use when he wanted no arguments. "We don't have the time to go exploring – not when we need to be on a boat back to Pallet by Sunday."

Dawn pouted looking very disappointed at the missed opportunity, but she understood that Brock had a point. They had little more than six and a half days to trade Ash's beedrill, make their way back to Vermillion, battle Lieutenant Surge and eventually make their way on board the S.S. Katharina. They really were pressed for time and needed to get things over and done with as soon as possible.

"Excuse me?" a thin older gentleman asked, tapping Ash on the shoulder to get his attention. "Are you Ash Ketchum?"

Ash preened at the attention – a fool to the very end – thinking he had been spotted by an avid fan. Not that the gentleman like figure looked much like a fan. "Why yes I am," Ash responded proudly. "What can I do you for?"

"Yes, well," the man began, clearly unimpressed. "There seems to be a phone call for you. If you follow me I'll show you to the phone while Hamish will show your friends to the booth Mr. Takeru had us set up on your behalf.

"Right this way, Mr. Ketchum," he said as he led Ash away. "The young lady was very persistent."

"Did she sound angry?" Ash asked anxiously, cringing at the thought. He was pretty sure he hadn't done anything to set Misty off, but then he never really knew. He was almost positive that it wasn't her birthday and he was pretty sure there was no such thing as a three-week anniversary. He couldn't think what he might have done to get into Misty's bad books (again).

"No, not particularly," the man responded snootily. "Just . . . persistent," he finished distastefully. "I'll be by the door if you need me," he said as he gestured to phone hanging off the hook and left the room.

Ash took a quick breath before picking up the phone, forcing a cheery tone into his voice like nothing was wrong. "Hey, Mys-"

"Ash Ketchum?" a voice that was definitely not Misty Waterflower's asked briskly, cutting him off mid-greeting.

"Yeah," he responded questioningly. "Who is this?"

"It's of no importance," the female voice responded. "I know it was your intention to make your way back to Vermillion, but it seems you urgently need to see me."

"I'm sorry, who is this?" he asked once again, confusion seeping into his entire countenance.

"Forgive me for my rudeness, Ash Ketchum," she responded, her tone still brisk and giving nothing away, "but you have to understand that this is no mere trifle. You must come to my gym in Saffron immediately. I will say more once you arrive."

"But, Sa-" he began, but she cut him off once again before he could say more.

"I'll handle all of your arrangements," she assured him quickly, "but you must come immediately." And with those last words he hung up before he could protest further.

"Well," Ash sighed, glancing at his Pokémon companion who was as usual perched upon his shoulder. "I guess we're going to Saffron."

The thin man led him back through the crowd to where Brock and Dawn seated behind a plain wooden booth with nothing adorning it that might give away their purpose. They were both smiling as he returned, Dawn waving several pieces of paper in her hand.

"You wouldn't believe it, Ash," she told him. "We've only been sitting down for like five minutes, and we already got five offers."

"How did they even know?" Ash gaped in surprise, checking once again to make sure his eyes hadn't deceived him. Nothing on the booth said anything about the beedrill in his possession, and yet already word had gotten out and he _five_ offers.

"I think your dad might have started spreading the word," Brock commented, figuring that if Jason had gone to the trouble of getting them a booth he had probably also let a few people know what Pokémon might be found at said booth. He was glad to see that at least one of them was making an effort towards some sort of relationship.

"Hmm," Ash responded, offering little more.

This somewhat less enthusiastic response immediately registered on Brock's 'moma Brock radar for all things insidious and generally troubling' (also known as MBRFATIAGT, but this is no less difficult to say so it is rarely abbreviated) and he gave Ash a questioning look. "Ash, are you alright?" he asked concernedly before elaborating, "you look pensive."

This only caused Ash to look even more pensive as he had no idea what pensive meant and so his expression creased into something that could only be described as 'biscuit-ersed' (accent included). Brock kindly refrained from commenting on Ash's 'biscuit-ersed' face. "You look troubled, Ash," he explained gently, his own expression becoming equally troubled.

"I'm okay," Ash assured him unconvincingly with a weak smile. "It was just a really weird phone call.

"Sabrina just called me from Saffron City," he told them, the confusion even more evident now that he spoke of what was troubling him, "at least I think it was her. I don't really remember much of her apart from that crazy doll of hers."

Brock nodded along thoughtfully, his own lasting memory of Sabrina Le Fay of Saffron City being very different from Ash's. The passing of time had healed him of any negative remembrances from the incident, and what was left was a pair of very long legs and a very short trench coat. And he said he wasn't a 'leg man'.

"What did she say?" he asked, letting the image mull in the back of his mind like a fine wine that would only get better with age. He resisted whatever urge that would have him stupidly asking if she had said anything about him, knowing that in the unlikely event that she remembered him that they probably wouldn't be especially pleasant memories.

"She said I need to meet her in Saffron immediately," Ash answered, "and that she'd explain when we get there."

Brock frowned. "But how are we going to get back in time?" he asked pensively. "There's no way we can get to Saffron and back to Vermillion in just six day."

"She said she'd 'handle' our arrangements," Ash offered pathetically, a grimace on his face showing just how much he trusted the psychic gym leader to 'handle' their arrangements. She'd probably just turn them into dolls and have them couriered to Pallet by pidgey parcel. And as bad as all that sounded, he had to admit it was probably the fastest route to Pallet by any means.

"So this 'Sabrina' person wants us to go to Saffron?" Dawn questioned, frowning at the pensive expressions held by her two travelling companions. "Did she say why?"

"Not even a hint," Ash replied, shaking his head, "but whatever it is, it sounded pretty urgent.

"You don't think anything's happened to Haunter, do you?" Ash asked, quickly glancing at Brock for reassurance.

"She would have said if that was it," Brock assured him, although he had nothing to base such a judgment on. He thought it best not to let that thought linger in Ash's mind for the time being – if that was the reason, then they would deal with it when they got to Saffron, but for now they would stay optimistic.

"So, should we just . . . go?" Ash questioned awkwardly, a certain reluctance in his body language.

Brock seemed to consider the question for a moment, but it was Dawn that answered with a determinative shake of her head. "We can't 'just go'," she told him. "Mr. Ketchum seems to have gone to a lot of effort to organize this," she explained, not quite comfortable yet with throwing out the 'd-word' around Ash, "so we can't just leave. It would be a waste – not to mention just plain rude!

"How on earth are you two supposed to form a lasting relationship if you go throw this all back in his face!" she exclaimed dramatically.

"Uh . . . it's ok, Dawn," Brock said awkwardly, putting a hand on Dawn's shoulder to calm her down. "She does make a good point," he commented to Ash as she settled back in her seat.

"Yeah, but what do you supposed we do about it?" the young trainer asked. "Sabrina said we had to come immediately."

Dawn rolled her eyes, wondering how the two could be so oblivious to the obvious. "We've already got five offers," she told him. "Pick one." She fanned out the five cards across the table, face down, and looked at Ash expectantly.

Ash's hand waved across the table as though he expected his hand to be drawn to the correct choice. When that didn't happen, he closed his eyes and slammed his pointer finger into the table at random. "That one," he said as he opened his eyes, his voice holding more certainty than he felt.

Dawn lifted the card at the tip of Ash's finger up for her inspection, smiling as she offered it to Brock to peruse. The young breeder shared her smile, glancing between Ash and the card with a grin.

"Well?" Ash asked, slightly nervous from the way they were looking at each other.

"Good choice," Dawn said simply. She got up along with Brock and they began to move in the same direction. "It's this way, Ash," she added, smiling innocently.

It wasn't long before they found themselves conversing with a very round, balding man with an excessively cheerful demeanour that reminded one of Santa Clause. He even had a large belly that seemed to shake when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly.

The man was clearly familiar with Jason – at least within his capacity as Pokémon Master – because the first thing he said as the group neared was, "You must be Takeru's boy," with a jolly laugh and infectious smile. He examined Ash for a moment longer before adding, "My god, you look just like him. You could be twins," he laughed.

"Uh . . . hi," Ash replied awkwardly, not sure how to take the comment.

The man smiled widely as he reached almost aggressively for Ash's hand. "Allow me to introduce myself – my name is Peregrine Rikio Deltoid, though most people just call me 'P. R.' for short," he said with a handshake that almost pulled Ash's arm right out of its socket. "Pleasure to meet you, my boy."

"You too," Ash answered quietly. "I'm Ash. And this is Brock and Dawn. And Pikachu," he added pointing to the creature now perched atop his head.

"Good to meet you," P. R. said cheerfully, obliging Dawn and Brock with the same injury inducing handshake. "Now I take it you are interested in my Ludovico, because I am _very_ interested in your beedrill."

"No, it's _lucario_," Ash corrected, speaking slowly for the older male's benefit. "There's no such Pokémon as a ludovico."

P. R. hummed in amusement. "As queer as a clockwork orange," he murmured to himself, still smiling all the same. "You are correct, Ash. There are no such Pokémon as ludovico, but there is _a_ Ludovico - here," he said, holding up the Pokéball that assumingly held the Pokémon they would be trading. "Do you have the beedrill with you?"

Ash nodded, plucking beedrill's Pokéball off his belt and enlarging it to its full size. He held out towards P. R. whose eyes almost seemed to glisten with anticipation until suddenly the two Pokéball's were snatched away by a mechanical arm. They turned simultaneously in the direction of two sinister figures perched in the rafters.

"Team Rocket," Ash-tachi muttered darkly.

Meowth grinned at the recognition and began the motto. "Prepare for twouble."

"No, I can't do this," James exclaimed dramatically, burying his head in his hands as his body shook with sobs. "Not without her. Let's just take these Pokémon and go."

"Oi, wot about dat Pikachu, you useless human?" Meowth complained, slamming a paper fan into the violet haired male's head.

"Two's enough, isn't it?" James asked hopefully. "It's just not the same without her, Meowth," he sobbed in anguish. "It's just not the same!"

"I ain't leavin' here witout dat Pikachu, Jimmy," Meowth responded darkly, grabbing his human partner by the collar and pulling him down to his level. He wanted James to know just how serious he was about this, and made himself _very _clear.

While the two squabbled above in the rafters, below Ash had already gone into action. Pidgeotto had been released and sent up to collect the two pilfered Pokéball's from the oblivious villains. The two hardly noticed as Pidgeotto plucked them straight from the mechanical hand and deposited them back with his master.

"Now, Pidgeotto," Ash called before the villains could attend to the situation and prolong matters, "**gust **attack."

"Oh dear," James said as he heard the attack. He quickly searched for their spoils, hoping things hadn't already gotten that far without their knowledge. Noting their absence, James realized they were swiftly coming to conclusion of today's tête-à-tête.

"Pidgeotto!" the bird Pokémon cried as it let go a powerful gust of wind that knocked Team Rocket (or rather two thirds of it) out of their rafters and right out through the ceiling.

"Looks like Team Rocket's flying off again!"

"Well," P.R. mused as the excitement died down and people got back to what they were doing, "you may not have gotten your father's brains, but you certainly got his battling skills.

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to part with Pidgeotto, too?" he asked shrewdly, smiling hopefully. "I know a trainer who would happily part with a shiny squirtle for that bird, and you know how rare that is."

Ash, who had no clue whether or not shiny squirtles really were rare, just shook his head in answer to the first question. "Pidgeotto's not on the market, but I'll let you know if I ever change my mind," he said kindly, not wanting to hamper their 'business relationship' with a more assertive denial.

"Was worth a shot," P. R shrugged as he handed over his Pokéball in exchange for Ash's, the smile never leaving his face. "There you go, Ash," he said. "One sneasel, as promised."

Ash gaped at the Pokéball in his hand. "A sneasel?" he asked in disbelief. "Are you serious?" He could hardly form an expression – so pleased was he with his acquisition. He couldn't believe that anyone would actually trade him something as rare and strong as a sneasel for a beedrill that couldn't even learn a basic attack.

P.R., however, seemed to misunderstand his exclamation. "I have a razor claw if you're that disappointed," he said, his smile faltering for the first time since they had met.

"No, I mean – that's not, what I meant was . . ." Ash tried to explain, but words seemed to fail. He glanced at Brock for some guidance, and the young breeder swiftly stepped.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Deltoid," Brock said, accepting the razor claw. "I think this trade has worked out very well for both parties. Hopefully we'll see you around, although we really have to go now – there is some urgent business in Saffron that needs attending to."

Brock began to hustle them away as P.R. Deltoid waved them a cheery goodbye. They moved quickly back to the entrance where Ash stumbled into a familiar figure.

"Ash? What are you doing here?" Gary asked quickly, his disposition frazzled and uneasy.

"Not that it's any of your business," Ash huffed snarkily, "but I was conducting a trade.

"What are _you_ doing here?" he added with a sneer.

"Not that it's any of your business, Ketchum," the slightly older Pokémon trainer replied. "I meant what are you doing _not in Vermillion_. The party is in less than two weeks and you lot aren't even anywhere near Pallet."

"And where are you?" Ash scoffed, antagonized by Gary's evasive response. "Why do you care anyway?" he asked with a glower. "I'm surprised you were even invited."

"Of course I was invited," Gary sneered, giving Ash a dubious look. "I'm bl-" he cut himself off as his vision was drawn to Brock doing various elaborate and enthusiastic hand gestures behind Ash's back. Gary frowned for a moment trying to understand not so much what the gestures meant (it was very clear they were a sign for him to shut up) but rather why they were being performed.

_'Cos Ashy doesn't know,'_ Gary realized, the thought making him want to scoff out loud. He shook his head, coupling the action with a sarcastic roll of his eyes before turning his back group.

"Whatever, Ketchum," he called over his shoulder, "just don't be late."

And like shadow, he was gone.

"Stupid Gary," Ash muttered, his face darkening. He tried not to think about his and Gary's conversation in Viridian (if you could call it that) but his mind decided to choose this moment to antagonize him and throw Gary's words on a loop – _"May the best man win"_ came the arrogant chortle again and again.

"C'mon, Ash," Brock said with a hand on the young trainers shoulder urging him back towards the exit. "There's something I've been meaning to tell you about Gary.

"He's . . ." Brock began, pausing to find the right words.

He could do this.

"He's . . . well, you see . . ."

He was sure he could do this.

"Gary is . . ."

I mean, what was the big deal anyway.

"Never mind."

He couldn't do it.

Oh, but what a comfort those three words would have been. The words – if only Brock could summon the courage to say them – would have assured the teenager that his rivalry with Gary did not extend into the personal field and that he had nothing to worry about in that respect.

_'One day,'_ Brock assured himself, _'when the time is right.'_

But when would there ever be a right time to reveal the truth about Gary's preferences. There wasn't exactly a hallmark card for this sort of occasion, and it would be hard revealing such a secret. Brock had been dreading the moment, putting it off for nearly half a year now until his hand was forced.

He would have to tell him soon; Ash needed to know before they got back to Pallet. Ash would need to be prepared and Brock seemed to have drawn the short straw on this one.

How on earth do you tell someone that their childhood best friend was gay?

~ to be continued ~

Another one out the way. Also note, Ash is getting more awesome Pokemon, because lots of his are seriously not awesome and that's a bit of a problem for this story. You can only get so far with a basics, but at some point someone is going to come at you with a quasi-legendary and then you are SCREWED. I mean, we already know that Jason has a quasi-legendary so he's there's at least one that Ash has to come up against, and he's be training for AGES so all his Pokemon, even just the regular ones, will be completely awesome. I think I have used the word 'awesome' so many times in this wrap up that it has lost all meaning . . .

Right . . . so review if you liked it and review if you don't. If you are indifferent, then reviewing may put too much strain on your apathy - reviewing should be avoided at all costs . . .

* * *

**Note: **'Ludovico' is the name of the treatment programme imposed on the main character in 'A Clockwork Orange' to cure him of his 'ultra-violence' tendencies. The reason behind the reference is that the bulbapedia page on Sneasel refers to Stanley Kubrick's 'A Clockwork Orange' (the movie adaptation) and anyone who has ever seen that movie (or probably any of Kubrick's work) will realize what a bad juxtaposition it is to compare Pokemon to Kubrick. But at the same time, juxtaposition is one of my favourite ways to play with language, and so I saw it right to continue with that tradition.


	10. Seeing is Believing

**Ash: The Last Stand (History)**

I get the feeling that I promised an update much sooner than this, but in the end, I'm glad I held onto it for as long as I did. I was really unhappy with the chapter after this one and once I realized why, I had to go back and rewrite parts of this one in order to make sure they were consistent. So while I do apologize for the long wait on this chapter, in the end it was rather necessary in order to get things just right.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pokemon.

* * *

**Episode Title: **To Bee or Not To Bee  
**Closest town/landmark:** Saffron City - Gamboge  
**Distance Travelled: **22km  
**Pokemon mentioned:** Eight.  
**Number of alternative punch lines considered for the first dialogue between Mewoth and James:** Seventeen including, but not limited to . . .  
_"Well sure, Meowth, but even if Harry Potter did exist, there's no way he would lend us his invisibility cape."  
__"I think so, Meowth . . . wait, what's 'pondering' again . . ."  
__"I think so, Meowth, but where are we going to find a cloning machine, x ammount of Jesse's DNA and 'everything nice' in this place?"  
__"I think so, Meowth, but don't you think this 'taking over the world' fetish of yours is just a little ambitious given our current track record?"  
_**Approximate time in days it would take to travel from Gamboge to Saffron, then back to Vermillion, beat Lt. Surge and travel by boat to Pallet: **Sixteen  
**Approximate time in days from deadline to arrive in Pallet: **Eleven  
**Number of allusions made to A Clockwork Orange**: Four  
**Trading a beedrill that doesn't even know **fury attack** for a Sneasel _and_ a Razor Claw: **_Priceless_

_

* * *

_

Ash: The Last Stand – Seeing is Believing

Dawn's eyes widened as they finally stopped outside their destination. She was glad to be out of the woods with its creepy fog swirling heavily around their knees and the trees packed so tightly together that no light could breach its surface. Now that she was away from the curious rustling and unrecognisable Pokémon cries, she had to wonder if they were truly 'out of the woods' so to speak.

Their current location hardly seemed like an improvement. The darkened building they had paused in front of gave off a sense of foreboding that made Dawn want to run back to her mommy and never leave Sinnoh ever again. If it weren't for the two boys' insistence, she would have turned back long ago – long before the first waves of fog first rolled in, and long before they first stepped foot in the forest that Ash and Brock assured her was the only way they knew to the gym, and certainly long before the strange figure leading them to said gym had first appeared.

The small girl was perfectly silent the entire time, except for the occasional ominous giggle seeming to echo through the woods. Now that they had arrived at their supposed destination, the child-like figure had disappeared completely, leaving Dawn to wonder if she was ever really there.

"Are you sure this is it?" she asked quietly, her tone hopeful as she glanced a t Brock, silently willing him to tell her they had gotten the wrong place and that the gym was somewhere down the road bathed in sunlight and flowers, and everything that would seem the very antithesis of what she was faced with.

"Of course it is," Ash replied, apparently indifferent to the way darkness seemed to emanate from the building. "If anyone would know where the gym was, it would be her. I mean, sure it's not _exactly_ how I remember it, but it seems to be in the right place."

Dawn frowned at Ash's words, not finding them particularly comforting. "So you've entrusted our getting there solely in the hands of some child?" she asked, an uncharacteristically sarcastic note in her voice that came from being scared beyond reason while her companions seemed not to notice at all. She knew that if anything bad came of her, it would be Ash's fault entirely.

"Actually, Dawn, she's not a child," Brock said, continuing before Dawn jumped to the next possible conclusion i.e. ghost. "She's a psychically animated doll previously embedded with half of the gym leaders personality in order to grant her unlimited power . . . to an extent."

Dawn blinked, not really understanding what he was saying at all. With a quick sigh, Brock broke it down to layman's terms. "She's not a ghost," he said simply, "but she's not human either."

Well that didn't help much at all. Yes it wasn't a ghost, but the 'not human' part did not ease her fears. All she could take from that was the fact that they were being led around a scary forest by something or someone that wasn't really there and only resembled a small child, while potentially being something far more frightening. She muffled a frightened sob as she let out her large, mammoth like Pokémon for protection. She doubted any dolly would be getting past her mamoswine, psychically animated or otherwise.

"This place has really changed," Ash commented aloud, more to himself than anything else. "Misty's hardly changed at all, and Pewter just brightened up; but this . . ."

As the fog cleared they were able to see more and more of the Saffron gym and the changes it had under gone. While not exactly looking run down, the gym had the appearance of an abandoned castle complete with battlements and fortification and a tall tower looming over them. Two large oak door stood in their way, separating them from what lay beyond.

Brock nodded in agreement. "I guess Sabrina went all out with the refurbishments," he commented. "I mean, just look at those knockers," he awed.

The knockers specified were two ornate doorknockers fashioned in the image of an abra and a haunter, each with a hoop hinged in their mouth that could be lifted and dropped back to the plate below to alert the occupant of their arrival. Above the door was a message written in the old Kanto script that almost no one used anymore. Ash scanned it into his Pokedex for a translation and Dexter dictated its meaning to the trainers in a paradoxical monotone:

_Saffron City Pokémon Gym  
He who dares to enter; beware. Only the brave of heart may enter these walls, and all others will suffer the consequences._

"Told you it was the right place," Ash said upon Dexter's confirmation of their location, unfazed by the ominous warning. He stepped forward, along with Brock and Pikachu, nearing the two large doors and stretching his hand towards one of the two elaborate door fixtures.

"No!" Dawn cried, forcing them to stop in their actions and turn back to face her. She edge closer to Mamoswine, curling her fingers into its shaggy hair for some sort of reassurance. "I think we should go back," she said quickly, her voice shaking with fear. "You might not be scared, but I am and I don't want to face the consequences!" she wailed dramatically, looking at each of them with a desperate pleading look.

"Dawn, it'll be fine," Ash assured her, with a stubborn grin. "It's probably nothing."

"That's what you said about Mount Moon, and look where that got you," she argued defiantly.

Ash shrugged, not really seeing her point. Ignoring the warnings outside Mt. Moon had gotten him to Cerulean two days early (and we all know how well _that _worked out for him) and a new Pokémon whose actual species was still unknown. The bit about nearly dying and having to face off with a pair of rockets to prevent him and his friends being buried in rubble had apparently slipped his mind.

"There's no need to worry," Brock assured her, quoting her 'invincible spell' back at her. "We know Sabrina, and even though she turned Misty and I into dolls, she would never intentionally hurt someone. Not now at least."

Despite the conflicting elements within Brock's statement, she felt slightly relieved by his words. Although she continued to frown, she let out a soft sigh that relaxed her stance slightly and loosened her grip on her Pokémon.

"Now you better put Mamoswine away, Dawn," he told her, "because he's not going to fit through that door. Ash'll release some Pokémon once we're inside." He didn't mention that Mamoswine would be completely useless against Sabrina's Pokémon, thinking that little tidbit was best kept to himself.

Dawn nodded, stepping closer to Brock as she returned her Pokémon. The young breeder comfortingly wrapped his arm around her shoulder, a gentle, reassuring expression locked on his face. He was himself a little concerned about the appearance of the gym, but for Dawn's sake – and even Ash's to some degree – he would keep those concerns to himself.

Ash stepped forward once again, choosing haunter from the two knockers (for sentimental reasons) and let the ring drop down twice. The sound reverberated slowly around them before stopping abruptly and leaving them in an uncanny silence. And then, just as abruptly, that silence was broken as a low creak crescendoed and the door eased open as if of its own fruition.

"I guess the welcoming committee is out for the day," Ash joked with an easy smile.

Brock gave him an admonishing look for trying to make light of the situation when Dawn was so clearly not coping. The young co-ordinator moved in closer to Brock who obligingly held her hand in a fatherly gesture. "There's nothing to worry about," he assured her once again, paraphrasing his previous sentiment. "It'll all be okay."

She nodded and let him guide her over the threshold into an ominously dark room. She glanced around, trying to adjust her eyes to the darkness and discern where she was, but before she had the chance, the door slammed shut behind them, plunging them into pitch darkness.

With a loud squeal she latched herself onto Brock's side, squeezing her eyes shut as she buried her head in his green vest. She tried desperately to concentrate on the words of comfort that Brock offered, but couldn't help but think that this was the end of Dawn Berlitz come much too soon for her liking. An indignant part of her brain silently cursed Ash Ketchum, cursing herself along with him for not realizing sooner that he would be the death of her.

"I'm on it," Ash called out into the darkness, as he released three Pokémon, each with a specific purpose in mind. Quilava was released to provide some light to help them get around; Scooby (gastly) because Kadabra was weak to ghost-type attacks; and Ludovico (sneasel) because of his resistance to ghost-type attacks, and immunity to psychic attacks. He'd learnt his lesson the last time he came to Saffron – it was no good being unprepared against the psychic gym leader.

Pikachu was relieved to see that this was so. It was one thing to beat a giant rock snake with a wee electric mouse, but it was another to pit that same mouse against a psychic fox. Pikachu hadn't liked the odds then and he liked them even less now that the Saffron gym had taken a distinctly creepier feel since the first time they visited. He much preferred leaving this one in the hands of Scooby and Ludovico, and letting this go to type advantages rather than sheer power of will.

With a determined cry, the flame on Quilava's lower back burst to life and when this did little to light their way, the full expanse lit up with a bright flame. Still, no matter how much fire sprung form the Pokémon's back, no more than a meters radius would light up around the fire-type and the rest of the area would remain in darkness.

"We'll just have to stick close together," Brock told them, happy with the choice.

The small grouped huddled together as they moved further into the building with Ash and Quilava leading the way. They had no idea if they were heading in the right direction or where they would end up in the end, but with their exit already blocked behind them, they had no choice but to keep moving forward.

Strange noises echoed through the darkness causing Dawn to whimper and cling tighter to Brock. The occasional flash would light up the room, and she would catch the glimpse of some movement from the corner of her eye before it all went black once again.

Even Ash was becoming increasingly anxious as they progressed. He moved much slower than usual, cautiously and ever vigilant for something in the shadows. Every ominous chortle or low howl made him tense just a little bit more and had him reaching almost unconsciously for his Pokéballs.

But then he heard something – something he hadn't expected to hear in his current frightening circumstances.

"Misty!" he cried gleefully as he heard a familiar laugh echo through the silence. Throwing his previous caution to the wind, Ash raced into the foreboding darkness, thinking of nothing but the fastest way to get him self to Misty and to stay there forever. His cry was echoed by a cheerful "Pikachupi! Chupi-pi!" from the mouse on his shoulder.

Dawn gaped at the sight. "He's complete in love with her, isn't he?" Dawn asked rhetorically as she watched him disappear. She suddenly knew exactly what it was Brock hadn't wanted to tell her so as to let Ash work it out for himself.

"Completely," a voice that wasn't Brock's replied, drawing the remaining members of the party's attention. "Although it's probably not fair for me to say so."

The darkness slowly lifted around them, and Dawn was gaping once again as the most elegant woman she had ever seen in her life appeared from the veil of night. She was almost ethereal, her pale skin glowing against the dark navy corset and black ¾ length jacket. Her silk skirt seemed to drift behind her as though pulled by some magical breeze, and the woman herself seemed to almost float in her movements. Her jade/black hair was long and straight, and fell down her back to a finger tip length. Her eyes were a brilliant blue and full of such intrigue and knowledge that Dawn found herself shuddering under her gaze.

"Who are you?" Dawn half whispered, unable to keep the awe from her voice. She had never been so entirely struck by one person before in her life.

"I am –" the woman began, but she was cut off by a not entirely unexpected gesture from Brock. Given Dawn's own appraisal of the woman, it was unsurprising that Brock had reacted in his usual way. In fact, Dawn could almost forgive his reaction this time, it being somewhat justified by the figure before them.

"Sabrina," he said softly – reverently – as he grasped her hand in his and knelt down before her. He gazed adoringly into her eyes, a goofy grin plastered on his face as he declared his love. "I am completely under your power. My princess . . . my love . . . I'm sure you don't have to look too far into the future to know that you and I are meant to be!"

"Sabrina?" Dawn asked, wonderment in her eyes. "That means you're-" she began, but she was cut off by the strangest sound she had ever heard, at least in response to Brock seemingly doing his darndest to creep the woman out (at least in Dawn's opinion). She giggled – the beautiful, elegant woman who had walked into the room with an air of worldliness, was actually _giggling_ at one of Brock's corny lines. And even more than that, Dawn could swear she could see a pink blush forming on Sabrina's pale cheeks.

Dawn could do nothing but stare. Someone had actually responded to one of Brock's pick up lines, and it wasn't a slap or something akin to Nurse Joy's gracious attempts to let him down gently, but encouragement even. And when Brock continued, pilfering his own brother's line about marble and lapus gems, the smile on Sabrina's face said it all.

It looked like Brock had finally hit his home run.

Dawn had no idea what she was supposed to do in this situation. Normally Croagunk would have appeared before Brock could offer a second line to his current fascination and finish the breeder off with a convenient poison jab. And if that weren't enough to do him in, one of his human travelling companions would step up as a second line of defence. Usually this would be Ash or Misty, but with those two similarly occupied it was up to Dawn to step in.

Only Dawn _really_ didn't have the heart to put an end to it.

_'He's not really bothering anyone_,' she justified to herself as she continued to watch the scene, unwilling to call herself to arms. She was enraptured by what was occurring – while Brock's attempted wooing was almost a daily occurrence, Sabrina's reaction to it was positively enthralling. Dawn had always secretly wondered what might happen if Brock was left to his own devices, and now she would finally get her answer.

It seemed that in certain controlled circumstances, Brock might actually succeed in his attempts to woo.

For the first five minutes it was the same as always; just one cheesy line after another delivered with such open sincerity that Dawn herself found it hard not to laugh. But once those first five minutes passed, things changed in a very obvious way. Even though he continued to deliver those hideous lines one after another, the goofy, lovestruck look on his face had been replaced with one of mirth and his grip on Sabrina's hand had become gentler. It was at this point that he had stopped trying to win her over, and settled on trying to make a very pretty girl laugh, for she was very pretty and had what he would deem the most alluring laugh in all of Kanto.

Sabrina laughed freely, her eyes closed and red stained mouth open in a wide smile. With her cheeks flushed with amusement and eyes sparkling with joy, Brock couldn't help but think she looked more beautiful and surreal than even he could imagine.

The breeder savoured each tinkling laugh and the image of her smile stored in his memory for all of time. He assured himself that for as long as they remained in Saffron, he would try to make her laugh as often as possible.

"Sabrina," he said lowly, relishing her name off his lips. "I think that Monsieur Arouet had you in mind when he coined the immortal words _'O che sciagura d'essere senza coglioni'_ – oh what a misfortune to be a eunuch."

"Please no more," she begged, tugging on their joined hands as a signal for him to rise. "Any more and I think my stomach will burst," she added, one hand reaching for her sore stomach muscles.

He did as she instructed, smiling warmly as he looked down into those enticing blue eyes. He towered above her by a good three inches (more if she wore flat – or rather flatter – shoes), which was the perfect height for nestling her under his chin if he were to hold her close. His mind drifted away a little as he considered such a position and so he hardly noticed that his hands were still clasped around hers.

Sabrina made no attempt to extract herself, a blush refusing to fade from her cheeks as she examined him clandestinely. She didn't think he was her usual type – not that she had much experience with boys and relationships, or even a much of a type for that matter – but at the same time she thought he was awfully cute in a goofy sort of way. The way that he had teased and flirted with her – the way he was still flirting with her, although now silently with seductive smiles and looks – was completely at odds with the strong and wizened impression given off by his bulky, muscled frame and distinguished, hard features. Sabrina, who could count the number of times she had been flirted with on one hand, hardly knew what to do with herself.

Eventually a soft cough from Dawn broke her from her staring, and the psychic glanced towards the unfamiliar young girl who had arrived with Brock and Ash. She almost reluctantly pulled herself away from the young man so as to properly introduce herself to her guest.

"I don't believe we've met," Sabrina said, offering her hand. "I am Sabrina Le Fay, the gym leader here in Saffron. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Dawn responded cheerfully, forgetting her earlier fears completely. "I'm Dawn. The guys have told me so much about you," she said as she enthusiastically pumped the gym leaders hands. "Are you really psychic? What am I thinking right now?"

Sabrina glanced back at the young breeder almost as though this was the answer to Dawn's question. "You're wondering why Brock never mentioned I was so pretty, " she said, raising an imploring in his direction.

The dark skinned young man blushed brilliantly under her challenging gaze. "I wasn't sure you'd appreciate it," he said in his defence without indicating to whom his response was directed.

"Well," Sabrina uttered, her cheeks mirroring his, "I think we best check on Ash and Misty before I have to explain myself to their guardians."

Dawn frowned as she tried to decipher Sabrina's meaning. "I don't get it," she said finally when no meaning became apparent.

"Good," Brock said gently, leading her in the direction that Ash had disappeared. The three Pokémon Ash released followed behind them, still somewhat confused by the sudden departure of their trainer.

They came quickly to upon a door that opened up to a brightly lit room that was nothing like the area before it. The room was already in occupation by two teenagers (and their Pokémon) who remained completely oblivious to their presence. With quick reflexes, Brock slapped a hand in front of Dawn's vision before she could get a good look at their companions – like he wanted to have to explain _that one_ to Johanna.

The oblivious pair remained entangled on the couch despite the entrance of their friends. Ash – taking certain liberties with the girl who he hadn't been able to kiss for nearly three whole weeks – had one hand firmly lodge in the back pocket of Misty's jeans, while the other slipped under the hem of her yellow camisole, lightly tracing the contours of her stomach. Misty's arms were draped innocently around her boyfriend's neck and shoulders, but such 'innocence' was defeated, it seemed, by her overall position. While Ash was seated upon the couch, Misty sat straddled on his lap as her lips attached to his throat, marking what was hers before returning to his lips.

If not for his own quick reflexes Brock reckoned Dawn would have been scarred for life and he definitely didn't want to have to explain that to Johanna.

Quilava and Scooby kindly explained the situation to the confused Ludivico who was not aware that their master had a mate.

"Ah hem," Sabrina coughed loudly, trying to gain the attention of the lip locked pair. She coughed again – louder this time – when the two appeared undeterred by the interjection.

"For the love of . . ." she muttered lowly, shaking her head in disbelief, "you would think they'd been separated for years rather than weeks. I am starting to regret facilitating this reunion."

Brock smiled, catching onto her train of thought. "I've spent the last six years trying to get them together," he commented wisely, "but these days it's on me to try and keep them apart."

Sabrina smiled at his words – she liked a man with wit. "How about I relieve you of your duty then?" she asked, a hint of mischief sparkling in her sapphire blue eyes. Entranced as he was, Brock had no choice but to acquiesce.

"Haunter," she called as the ghost type materialized beside her. "Would you like to play a trick on Ash and Misty?"

Haunter nodded enthusiastically, his entire body moving with the action as he grinned at the sight of his old friend. Scooby watched his evolved counter part with wonder.

"I think number seventeen would go down quite nicely," she suggested after a moments thought.

With an agreeing nod, Haunter floated over to the pair who continued not to heed the presence of human or Pokémon. Haunted tapped on Ash's shoulder, but got not response – he seemed to be so thoroughly absorbed in his activities that even Pokémon couldn't distract him from it. With a sigh of mild disappointment, Haunter pulled out a gag bomb and held it close to the couple. It detonated a moment later covering the pair in soot, but still they would not be deterred.

Disappointed by their reaction, Haunter floated sadly back to the group. "It's ok, Haunter, you did your best," she assured the ghost type as Brock used Ash's Pokémon to distract Dawn from what they were trying to hide from her.

"I suppose I shall resort to the old fashioned approach," Sabrina huffed as she used her psychic powers to pick up a rolled up newspaper and whack each of the pair repeatedly until they quit their actions. "I did not bring you here so you could defile my couch," she told the two, punctuating each word with a newspaper attack. "In fact, I had a very good reason for doing so."

"Oh yeah," Ash said happily as he pulled his hands back to where they should be. "I remember you telling me absolutely nothing about something really important."

"Ash, don't be a smart ass," Misty admonished before Brock or Dawn had the chance. "What's all this about, Sabrina?" she asked the psychic gym leader as she too quit any inappropriate actions.

Sabrina gave her a dry look, but continued quite seriously. "As I was trying to say, I brought you here for a very important reason, and if you're about done we can get to these matters presently," she said in an officious tone as she held out an open palm towards the teens.

When she continued, her tone was commanding with an almost sinister edge that left no room for dissent. The words were simple, the meaning clear, and her tone deadly serious.

_"Ash, give me the egg."_

~ to be continued ~

Yes! Cliffhanger! And now you're all left wondering, is Sabrina really evil? After all, the anime doesn't really give much guidance as to Sabrina's personality, so maybe I've gone to the manga for inspiration and made her one of Giovanni's top agents. Or maybe this is all aimed at some obscure side plot that nobody saw coming. Who knows. You'll just have to hang out of the next chapter I guess.

* * *

**Notes:  
_Chupi-pi_**: pikachu-ese for Misty's marril, because it's only right that he have a nickname for his future mate.

I always considered Brock's 'attacks' on women as a bit like an fear response. With a fear response, your system can only maintain it for like five to ten minutes, so if you're stuck in the same situation for longer than that, the fear will eventually subside. I kinda figured that if anyone could withstand Brock for more than five minutes, that his initial response would subside to something a bit and the normal Brock would kick in. Of course, that's not going to stop him from hitting on her entirely, but just enough to make it more bearable.

The **eunuch line** is from Voltaire's **Candide**. It doesn't quite fit, but I always thought it was such an amusing line.

For anyone interested, Sabrina is roughly 23 - so 7 years older than Ash.

Did anyone catch the reference to Chapter 7 of **Beginnings**? How's that for continuity.


End file.
